


Shadow Sun

by Izzu



Series: An honest and truthful world AU [1]
Category: Code Geass
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-14
Updated: 2019-03-29
Packaged: 2019-04-22 19:35:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 21
Words: 53,453
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14315685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Izzu/pseuds/Izzu
Summary: Fate is something that he could not control and the present is changing in a way that his future may end differently. The choices that lay before Lelouch, how it may change his life... only fate can tell. Follows not long after Euphie's death, the plot goes AU right after.





	1. The day the Sun sets

" _Suzaku. Let's stop this senseless fighting. I have enough entertaining you. I want to talk instead..."_

Suzaku bit his lip as he tensed, eyeing the figure walking up amongst the rubble in front of it. As the person draw closer towards him, a wave of black rage started to overcome Suzaku.

_"Lelouch... how could you still remain so heartless? Even after... even after killing Euphie—!"_

Suzaku contemplated with himself in the cockpit. How prideful was Zero—no, _Lelouch_ —to just walk up to him unarmed? Did Lelouch think that he would not hesitate to kill him in cold blood? Suzaku looked down on the controls of Lancelot's VARIS particle rifle. At this distance, he could just fire on Lelouch and there would be no chance that he'd miss. Let alone for Lelouch to even escape with his life.

_He could just end it all with just one shot..._

Suzaku took a long breath and closed his eyes. 

 _"Calm down",_ Suzaku told himself. He shouldn't let himself be fooled. He'll let Lelouch think that he trusted him to not pull any tricks. Until Lelouch revealed his ultimate card... he'll play along. 

xxx

"Zero!", cried C.C as she stood up from Gawain's cockpit. Lelouch turned as he cocked his head towards her.

"Stay there. I want to settle this myself, in my own way—", he spoke before shrugging at her. C.C. gave him a look of disbelief.

He snorted, not that C.C. could see his face anyway. "Are you having doubts that I will not be fulfilling my side of the contract with you? Have faith in me—"

Even from this distance, he could tell that C.C most probably would think that he's being ridiculous right now. "Stay there for a bit," he started to say before turning around to face Lancelot.

Lelouch bit his lips.

Then again, what was he doing right now? The war had only just started yet right now—Lelouch snorted again. Was he hesitating? On ending things with Suzaku once and for all? He looked up towards Lancelot. Lelouch smirked to himself.

_That's so unlike him._

Lancelot backed away a little as Lelouch stepped closer.

" **What are you up to, Zero? Don't think that just because you had walked up to me without your Knightmare that you could convince me to join you! You—"**

Lelouch chuckled.

xxx

Suzaku fumed by himself as his anger got the better of him. Not to mention the way the person appeared before him fearlessly, rubbed him the wrong way.

**_"Do not just assume everything on your own. If you want to kill me now, just shoot. I intentionally cut our senseless dogfight short just to settle this down. So if you had no intention to hear me out, just shoot me. You know pretty well that I can't escape Lancelot's firing range fast enough at this distance and situation. Why don't you shoot me? Kururugi Suzaku!"_ **

Suzaku jumped at the cold voice that uttered his name aloud. How could that person—how could Lelouch—so confidently spoke out the very thought he had in his mind?

_"Do you really want so much to die by my hand? Lelouch!"_

His hands shook. Right, this was his chance! This was payback for taking away Euphemia's life from her. For turning her into  _that._ He should be pushing the firing button on his targeting stick. Yes, he should... that will be the right thing. Zero must die for everything he did. He should die!

Suzaku jumped again as he heard laughter coming from Zero. Zero looked up at him as he took off his mask. Suzaku bit his lips. As much as he wanted Lelouch to drop his pretence of being this enigmatic figure called Zero, seeing his former friend finally doing so in front of him was still unnerving.

**_"What are you contemplating_ _for_ _? Are you disregarding your words earlier? Are you still with those idealistic thoughts in your head? Suzaku! Look at me! This time I am not the same civilian you saw in Shinjuku!"_ **

Suzaku glanced down towards the view screen to see Lelouch staring back at him without that Zero mask. With his left eye that revealed its bright purplish glow light. Making him look more like a total stranger than the abandoned prince of Britannia that he once knew, who had been his friend. He still could not accept the fact that this _friend_ had been so cold-hearted to the point that he would not bat an eye at killing his own siblings. To think that he had stood beside this friend and not sensing this part of him.

_**"What are you hesitating for?"** _

Suzaku frowned as he activated the targeting mechanism for VARIS. As the screen locked on target, Suzaku paused as he caught sight of Lelouch's face again. The lad had not moved from his spot since earlier and somehow... just somehow, he thought he saw Lelouch staring back at him with his saddened face again. He shook his head. No, his mind was playing tricks on him. Suzaku looked back towards the viewscreen again. Staring back towards Lelouch's face. That left eye of him really made him look... _insane_. Yes, that should be enough reason to—

Suzaku let out a startled cry as he saw into Lelouch's eye. Despite one of them had glowed so strangely, those eyes remained the same. Those were the eyes of Lelouch vi Britannia. Lelouch Lamperouge's eyes. The same eyes that had always watched over Nunnally, ever looking so kind... yet so sad during other times. His friend, how could he—?

Lancelot lowered its rifle as Lelouch let out an amused laugh.

"I... can't!" said Suzaku as Lancelot's cockpit opened and he stood. "As much as I hated you for what you have done and how much anger I felt at this moment, I just can't! Damn you Lelouch!" shouted Suzaku. Lelouch chuckled as he took out a gun and point it towards Suzaku. Suzaku frowned as both remained still.

" _Those who are prepared to be shot, are the only ones allowed to shoot... is it?_ You can't pull the trigger... and you still held on to that naïve view of not taking lives. If you claimed to be doing the right choice, you should not be hesitating to do anything! Even if it meant that you have to abandon your own personal emotion. That's why—!"

Lelouch sighed as he put down his gun.

"That's why... I said that you are an idiot. Reality is different than what you thought. You can't change anything while sticking to your own idealistic views and acting in a foolhardy manner! You—"

"That's easy for you to say," Suzaku snapped at once. "Just because you think you are the one on the right doesn't mean that you could freely play with people's lives—!"

Lelouch fumed. "I had never claimed that I'm doing the most righteous things. I knew that the moment I started all of this that my actions will affect the lives of many people. I know that while I'm fighting with the Japanese rebels, I will also take the lives of Britannian soldiers. As well as any other innocent civilians that got caught in the middle of this! I accept the fact that sacrifices are inevitable! I've stood by that belief and will not hesitate to eliminate any obstacles on my path!"

"Obstacles? So Euphie was just another _obstacle_ for you?" snapped Suzaku as C.C called for Lulu from Gawain.

xxx

Lelouch turned around towards Gawain's direction.

" **Zero! Enough talk... the battle is still ongoing! I can detect more reinforcements coming from the Britannian side. If we didn't gather our men now and retaliate later, there's no guarantee that we can survive this battle!"**

He sighed. Yes... while he wasted time here, the war still continued. And despite the Orders growing number, it was undeniable that many of them had been civilians. Compared to the enemy, it was undeniable to which had the better odds in term of fighting strengths. Strategically speaking, it was better for them to defend the area that they have taken over and secure their own positions before anything else.

 _"Yes, there is no turning back now"_ , Lelouch thought as he started turning towards Gawain's direction...

"Are you trying to run away again, Lelouch? You killed Euphie!"

Lelouch stopped. As much as he expected this reaction coming from Suzaku, he couldn't help feeling hurt over those words.

"...you can't possibly understand how I feel right now. Do not assume that you know me," he said softly to himself before walking away.

xxx

C.C bit her lips as she noticed several Knightmare signals heading toward them in her sensor. She recognised those of Britannian army but _one_ of them...

"Zero! Come back... we've got company! We have to leave NOW!"

xxx

Lelouch cursed under his breath as he continued running towards Gawain. A sudden sound alerted him as he turned towards the sound. C.C and Suzaku also took heed towards the incoming presence as C.C noticed an unidentified Knightmare was approaching them at a very fast speed. Lelouch frowned as he moved past the building to get a clearer look and let out a cry. That blue Knightmare... it could not be anything but a Ganymede! But other than his late mother, no one had ever used it and he had thought that model had been pulled out. And the only other surviving frame of that model currently resided in—a realization came into his mind as he found his answer. Other than the Ashfords, who else _knew_ about that?

He tried to run towards Gawain as he noticed Gawain's gearing up. _Could he reach it in time?_ His ears caught some sounds as he looked back towards the direction of the rogue Ganymede. The Knightmare had pulled out its assault rifle—he thought that frame did not have any weapons installed? Unless... Nina? That girl had always been so bright and the fact that her grandfather had worked on the Ganymede series, would have meant that she could have been able to add more adjustment to that frame?

And considering that he had killed Euphie earlier—did that girl...!

_For the sake of revenge...?_

The tip of the assault rifle glowed with power not unlike how he was accustomed to seeing in normal rifles. Can't it be? Did she modify it with her own theories and the research that she had been secretly doing? In such a short time?

Lelouch smirked at the irony.

_So will this be the end of him instead?_

xxx

"LELOUCH!", shouted C.C in the cockpit as she saw Lelouch turned his face towards her. Before she could move, a huge beam of light passed before her towards Lelouch. It missed Lelouch by a meter as the missile hit the ground and exploded.

C.C gave a cry as the ground beneath Gawain started to shake. She screamed as an invisible force rammed against Gawain.

At the other side of the battle, Lancelot was also taking a hit as the aftershock from the missile that was shot from the unidentified Ganymede model caused massive destruction on that section of the Tokyo Ghetto...

xxx

Bzzzt.

**"... C.C... Zero!**

Bzzzt. 

**Anyone there? Respond!"**

Bzzzt.

C.C eyes snapped open as she felt Gawain being raised upwards. She turned out the communicator as she answered. "Yes, Kallen. I'm all right. What's the situation?"

Guren Nishiki stepped back a little as Gawain stood on its own.

" **Everyone managed to escape after that strange big blast. Toudou-san took the lead for a while since we couldn't contact you guys. What—"**

xxx

Kallen gasped as Gawain ignored her and proceed towards the direction where the explosion had occurred. She followed behind without a word as it was the only thing she could do.

She frowned. Come to think... she had only heard C.C's voice from Gawain.

_"Don't tell me... ZERO—!"_

Gawain and Guren Nishiki surveyed the areas as dust and debris finally settled. The place was practically deserted by the Britannian army and of the Order's troop. Kallen frowned as she watched C.C coming out of Gawain and looking around the area. The place was practically flattened by the last explosion and now, it was harder to distinguish where the Ghetto and Sokkai area had been. Should she be... glad?

No... she shouldn't. She should not be glad about just only this result. Because after the war is concluded, they will rebuild this land anew...

That would be the day when she should be glad.

Kallen's thoughts broke as she heard C.C's gasp through the intercom. She brought her Guren to her side as she felt her blood ran cold at the sight she saw.

Few meters before them, Zero's mask lay on the ground. Abandoned... and _broken_. Somewhere nearby, they saw a tattered purple and red cape which was once worn by Zero; stuck under a pile of rubble.

Kallen gasped as she saw blood on the cape...

xxx

"He's not here... Lelouch was not here..." muttered C.C softly under her breath.

She could find no _dead_ body... so that should mean that Lelouch is alive, right? But if Lelouch is still alive... where is he? Looking at how much blood left on the ground, he could not have managed to go so far. Did that Lancelot pilot—?

C.C. gritted her teeth as she turned off the intercom.

_"Don't you worry too much, C.C... Lelouch is still alive..."_

C.C. sneaked a glare towards something that was invisible to others besides her.

"Then why didn't you tell me right away?" she hissed under her breath while glancing warily towards Kallen's direction. "Even if I _did_ get knocked out during the blast, you should have told me immediately about what happened."

She could hear a soft chuckle as C.C rolled her eyes at nothing.

_"Still... it was amusing to see you like this..."_

C.C. let out a frustrated sigh. "Well, that idiot should turn up later, one way or another. It's not like he's _that_ much of a weakling..."

_"You really WERE worried about my dear son... weren't you. C.C.?"_

C.C. started to muse over Lelouch and the few moments that they have shared during his vulnerable times. A hint of doubt suddenly interrupted her thoughts.

But then Marianne's last sentence jolted her back to alertness. "No! Who said that I was deeply worried about him? He'll live... because he has yet to fulfil his part of the contract with me. He made his promise to me—", she said, with an air of finality that her words would hold true.

She glanced towards Gawain's viewscreen to see Guren Nishiki move to search for Zero's remains. C.C. immediately stopped it as she got out of the cockpit.

"Enough, Kallen. He's no longer here. No point us searching for him now."

Guren Nishiki's cockpit opened as Kallen came out.

"What do you mean? How'd you know...? He might be... Zero—!"

C.C. let out another sigh.

"He's _alive_... somewhere. I'm sure of it."

Kallen went quiet as she stared back towards her. C.C smiled weakly at her. "I have faith in him. He will be all right. Kallen... would it be alright if I entrust the Order to you and the others?"

Kallen blinked.

"Eh... what?"

"There's something I needed to check, and that person might also be heading there as well—", C.C said as her thoughts hovered over Lelouch. 

There's still Nunnally. Lelouch wouldn't have abandoned her for anything. So even if they've lost contact with each other, Lelouch should still return to his sister's side...

Kallen frowned as she remained dumbfounded.

"B-but... wait a sec! You can't possibly be serious!"

"Zero had already noticed that the Order can manage on its own. It only needed a leader to lead it. I trust you can do well to succeed him? Or maybe you could choose a suitable person to take his place. I place that responsibility to you then—", said C.C as she entered the cockpit again. Gawain started to move as Kallen got back into her Guren.

_But could she do it...?_

Kallen frowned before turning around again to look for C.C. But she had already disappeared. She sighed to herself before turning Guren Nishiki around to return to the designated rendezvous point set by the Order... 

xxx

"I told you... right?"

Suzaku glanced up as he saw Cecile giving him the know-it-all look before she ushered him back towards the patient's bed. She started giving him a once over as Suzaku pushed her away.

"Did you find what you're looking for earlier?"

Suzaku shook his head, as that only made him feel even worse. Considering the big fuss he made earlier after stubbornly walking out in the midst of treatment to confirm his own eyes that Lelouch—for better or worse—was still not left abandoned at the battlefield.

A part of him felt ashamed, yet a part of him was so desperate to know. Did his former friend still alive... or was he dead?

_But in the end... he never did find out._

xxx

"Brother... where are you?"

Nunnally wondered about her brother as she kept herself from sleeping. It was already several hours... and he still hasn't returned home!

_"Brother... please! Don't tell me something had happened to you? If it does... the nightmares I'll be seeing will not be just about mother anymore..."_

Suddenly, Nunnally felt a pair of hands holding her own. She was about to call out her brother's name before realizing that the hands were not his.

"Sayoko... is it?" she asked cautiously despite being aware that if it had been her caretaker, the older lady would have greeted her much earlier.

Nunnally felt her hands being held tighter.

"No... it's me..." another familiar voice spoke to her.

Nunnally gasped.

"C.C.—! Brother... have you seen brother? He hadn't come home yet! I'm worried—", she cried out as Nunnally felt her body being embraced by the lady.

"Lelouch... is not here. We've separated earlier... but don't worry. I'm sure, he'll be alright..." said C.C again as Nunnally nodded meekly...


	2. At World's End

"Lelouch...?"

_Huh?_

"Lelouch... wake up, silly—"

He opened his eyes to find himself in a beautiful garden. Everything around him was strangely bright. And he totally had no recollection as to how he arrived to this place.

"How long did you intend to sit there in a daze, Lulu?"

He gasped aloud as he turned around. A brotherly figure looked down over him and pulled him up by hand, forcing him to stand. He staggered as he felt a little light-headed. The man chuckled.

"That's what you get for staying under the sun too long..."

He blinked.

His brother Clovis was grinning at him like silly.  _That's odd._ His older brother Clovis was not _usually_  this friendly with him. And he had no past recollection of Clovis ever smiled so comfortably towards him like this. Not just because of their differences of ages but it wasn't as if their mothers were ever on good terms...

He frowned. Something was wrong in this scene. But he could not place it in his mind on what was wrong.

Someone was calling them from afar. He turned his head towards the direction to find Euphie running towards them. Again he felt uneasy but he could not figure out what was wrong. A woman followed closely behind her as Lelouch gasped. 

xxx

"Mother..."

A man who had been sleeping by the bedside woke up suddenly. Having suddenly brought back to his senses, it took him a while to recall the fact that he was in fact inside the infirmary room of his airship. Wondering what was it that woke him, he turned around towards the _patient,_ as he realized that his charge was having a delirious episode. He hurriedly got up to grab a fresh towel and bowl of water and returned to tend to the _young_ patient. After pressing the damp cloth all over the child's face, the man touched the young man's forehead with the back of his hand.

He frowned.

_His fever was not going down..._

The man soaked the used cloth again and started dabbing the wet cloth all over the patient's body. He sighed as the patient continued to sleep restlessly. The man gently caressed the patient's cheeks.

"Hush... my dear," said the man, as the soothing tone of his voice seemed to calm the patient down. "I'm here, I'll take care of you now..."

xxx

_"Don't regret... after making that decision..."_

Suzaku gasped as he woke up from his nightmare. He sat up as he wrapped his arm around his legs. His thoughts wondered over the _nightmare_ that he had. And ironically, it was neither about his father, Euphie nor was it of the deaths of almost every single member of the Kururugi household. It was about Lelouch.

In his dreams, the scenes of his previous encounters with Zero replayed again over and over. Every time he woke up suddenly from one nightmare and slept again, another scene replayed in his dreams. But unlike the actual incident that was replayed, every dream of his encounters and battle against Zero ended up with him defeating Zero and killing Lelouch. Every time in his nightmare, he would see Lelouch's broken and lifeless body on the ground and his hands soaking with the blood of the eleventh prince. And like every time those nightmares haunted him, Suzaku would wake up drenched in sweat and crying for the loss of his former friend.

Suzaku had given thoughts about this, why he had been having these dreams even more than that of his late father or anyone else whose lives he could not save. Could he... felt remorse and felt that he was obliged to mourn the said former prince of Britannia?

_But that... was all nonsense!_

Why should he even feel guilty about Lelouch's death? After all of the heinous things that Lelouch has done! If this was a different situation, him feeling guilty of his friend's death would have made sense. If Lelouch was not _Zero;_  if Lelouch was still the same person that he once knew...

If somehow his own actions have caused the death of his dear friend... yes, he would have felt guilty.

_But Lelouch killed Euphie in cold blood!_

Suzaku pulled a quilt around himself. Suddenly he felt... cold. Images of Lelouch, staring back at him in accusation for everything that he did and chose to do start to haunt him again. As if those cold stares of his could really pierce his heart for real and tore it open. No, that was wrong. His heart at the moment did felt torn and hurt as if a sharp knife had pierced into it. Regardless of his personal issues... regardless of his personal agenda, Lelouch was an important person in his life. Not saying that Euphie was not... nor the rest of the people he cared about, but that was still an undeniable fact. No hatred could ever possibly destroy that, no matter how great it is. He said before that he felt what intense hatred was and vowed to commit murder in the sky. Even then, that intense hatred could not fully overcome the sorrows that still existed in his heart which what had prevented him to commit the act of murder that he had vowed to do.

He wondered... if that was the same thing that Lulu had felt. That time... despite the earlier outburst from him that made it seemed that he finally snapped towards insanity, Lelouch did appear full of remorse during that last moments that they had talked. As if he had been carrying the burden of the world on his back.

Suzaku laughed bitterly. "Damn you, _Lelouch_. Even in death... would you not let me be?" he muttered to himself.

His thoughts wandered towards the last dream he had that jerked him awake earlier. It was about that incident when the whole academy had gone into a frenzy because of Arthur the cat. In that dream, he and Lelouch had raced towards the bell tower and reaching the roof. But unlike what actually happened in the past, in this dream... he could not catch Lelouch's hand in time and he had fallen and broke his neck. In that dream... he had let Lelouch _die._

That dream made him think. Had that actually happened... would Euphie be alive still? The incident in Narita would not have happened and Shirley's father's life would not have been taken. As well as numerous other lives! But in return...

He knew what other lives would be lost instead. Come to think, had he failed saving Lelouch's life that time... he wouldn't be able to stay there anymore as well. Things would have ended differently.

How fate can be so cruel. The more he thought about everything that happened up to this point as well as other consequences of it if they all happened differently, the more that he felt... that things would have better happen as it had been. The possible outcomes that he had thought of in his mind had turned even more frightening and worse than the original outcome.

But then... would that mean, that it was Euphie's fate to die so early? What kind of justification was that?

Suzaku sighed. Tonight would be another sleepless night again... after all.

xxx

She glanced outside as she remained on the balcony, watching her surroundings. It has been two days since the Tokyo coup d'etat happened in the city and she was surprised that this area received less impact from the incident. She wondered if it had been because the Order had proceeded to make their move further north and securing those territories as theirs while leaving the area near Ashford intact or the fact that the Britannian fleet did a very good job protecting the area. The school was quite near to the Viceroy's Palace after all...

C.C sighed. Perhaps Kallen had convinced the Order to leave this place alone. Most of the people here were younglings after all and Kallen's friends were also here. Hmmm...

She heard the sliding door slide open as she turned around. She smiled.

Nunnally cocked her head towards her. "C.C... you're here, right?"

"Yes, I am... Nunnally."

"Did you see Sayako? I can't find her since yesterday."

C.C frowned. The clubhouse had several _other_ servants managing the place so she hadn't notice much among them. But then again, yes... that Sayako person. She was the one taking care of Nunnally most of the time. Come to think about it, ever since she returned to the clubhouse after putting Gawain hidden someplace... she had not seen Sayako around. So did something happen? Or was she with the rest of the Black Knights?

"C.C., can you help me? Since Sayako wasn't around—"

C.C blinked. "What do you want me to help?" she asked as Nunnally held out an origami crane. C.C. cast the girl a puzzled look.

"Unh..."

"It's a crane. Sayako told me before, that if one folds a thousand of these... one can have their wishes granted."

C.C smiled again as she knelt beside the girl. "So... what is your wish, Nunnally?"

Nunnally shrugged.

"I... wished for a kind world to exist. But... right now—"

"—you wished for Lelouch's safety, aren't you?"

Nunnally nodded. "I wanted brother... to be safe, and happy. Brother had always protected me and cared for me and to me, he's the _kindest_ person I've ever known. But ever since Mother... _died_ , brother had never really seemed happy..."

"Hmm—? I thought he was happy... he had you, and the others in the student council—", said C.C as Nunnally nodded.

"Yes, he was but because of _who_ we are... how we had to hide our real identities, there are times I felt that brother had always taken the entire burden of it into himself. _And hid how he truly feels about everything_. I know that he had been happy, living here with me... with Milly, Shirley, Rivalz, Suzaku, Nina and everyone but when it was just between the both of us; he always... seems like he tried too hard to be strong for me. Sure, we had fun while spending time with each other, he would laugh with me—but other times, we'd talk about our past and on mother... and I'd noticed how brother had always kept his emotions bottled inside. It's... not all right to keep everything bottled inside your heart, isn't it? It hurts, especially if you're facing it all by yourself. But brother... he always there whenever I was depressed, yet he never allowed anyone to comfort him during his down moment. It made me feel... _useless_. I wanted to do something for him."

C.C. cocked her head towards the younger girl before smiling weakly.

"—and now, knowing that he was somewhere out there, knowing that anything might have happened to him; it pains my heart. If brother had died—"

C.C placed a hand on her head.

"He won't. I think... Lelouch won't let himself die so easily, he had you. Hasn't he?"

Nunnally smiled. "You're a kind person... C.C.—", said Nunnally as the C.C. chuckled to herself. Her... being kind? Perhaps.

C.C stood as she started pushing Nunnally's wheelchair around towards the door.

"So, shall we go? Making the origami cranes... you'd teach me, won't you Nunnally?"

Nunnally nodded excitedly as C.C. followed the girl. She smiled in relief as the Nunnally strolled towards her own room. C.C. let out a soft sigh.

"Such a gentle girl... was that why you're trying so hard to create a better future for her? Eh, Lelouch?", she mused by herself as Nunnally turned around towards her, puzzled. C.C. smiled again as she joined the girl towards her room...


	3. The other side of the Moon

Lloyd whistled aloud as some technician brought in a very _questionable_ Knightmare into the garage. It struck him because he recognized the model as a Ganymede. But as he remembered, the prototype that was once used by the deceased Empress Marianne was still kept intact at the homeland. So how did this machine came to be here... oh! He recollected seeing this at Milly's school festival, the one that Suzaku used to make the largest pizza dough.

"A-ah, excuse me... may I know _how_ is it that you people acquired this thing?", asked Lloyd as the technicians shrugged to each other.

"We—found this somewhere near the destroyed Sokkai area while looking out for survivors. We had thought it was odd so we took it back. Pity for the girl inside though, we do not know what happened to her. Probably was shocked over something she saw or whatever, she was mumbling some incoherent things to herself when we found her and couldn't respond to anything else. She was taken away to receive treatment, but don't think you'll get anything from her right now based on her current state."

"Oh, I see...", said Lloyd as he continued eyeing the Knightmare. "—can you leave this to me? I'd like to study this machine..."

"Very well...", said one of the techs as the three men left the place.

xxx

His mind had always been as calm as it always had. Today was not an exception. Today should NOT be an exception. Yet, he felt a sudden pull in his heart over something.

No, more to the situation that was happening in Area 11. Ah, should this be a matter of concern to him? After all, a number of his children were involved in this. Two dead; the latter one just recently died. The other two had been trying to regain control of the region. Yes, when he thought about it he has always been thinking about his children. No, he had not been thinking about all  _four_. He was thinking about the _other two_. Particularly, he was thinking about the  _oldest_  of those _particular_ two children.

Lately, he couldn't stop thinking about _that_ child. Regardless of the reports that he received seven years ago, he did not believe the content saying that they have died. A fatherly thought? How long since has he ceased being a  _true_  father to all of his children? He had been a ruler before he was a father and he had been so to his children. He did not particularly feel sentimental about it. To him, how his children carry themselves in their lives would determine their worth to him. Death of one or the other would not matter much. It just showed how strong they were, how much they would fight to survive. If any of them fall that just showed to him that they were weak thus death was one of the consequences.

_Oh, but how much has he thought of this one particular child?_

His  _eleventh_   _prince_  and although he never really made it known in the past; the child has always been his _most_ treasured son. The one who was most _similar_ to him, whether in thoughts or actions. Yet no one would have been aware of how much he treasured that child, considering his past cruelty to that child and his younger sister.

Lelouch vi Britannia. His eleventh prince, the seventeenth in line for the succession of the throne.

That child had always been  _outstandingly_  bright, comparable to his brothers; and had a mind of his own. He had high hopes for the boy's _potential_. Granted that he had enough motivation, Lelouch could be a fine  _successor_  to him.

A force to be reckoned. That not even Schneizel could compare to the child.

There was a setback though. That child was  _too kind_. That, for a future _ruler_... was not a very good trait to have. There were all sorts of people in this world, each with its own different manners and policies. In this world where the strong prevail over the weak, kindness would only pose as a  _weakness_. It was because of this that he made a lot of plans for the child to make him learn all about the world; and how the world functioned.

It pained him when that tragedy happened. Nevertheless, he has gone on with his plans for Lelouch. The situation had changed but he would not back away from that. Just a change of words and his words would forever mark the child's heart until the end of time. He always knew that this child of his had looked up to him so much, no matter if it was love or hate that was to be the root of that respect. He would have loved to see how his words could bring change to that child.

It was because of that; that he did not believe those old reports. And he would have seen the child anyway in the world of C, had the child really died. But he _didn't_.

And now, he wanted to see the result that would rise. To do that though, he had to get all of the information he needed.

"Your Highness?"

He grunted as he turned towards one of his advisors again.

"It seemed that there was a peculiar movement again—"

"Schneizel?", he asked. The man nodded as he smiled in return.

"Very well. Then leave it as it is. Summon V.V. to see me, I have something I needed to discuss with him. And you may excuse yourself..."

"You are not ordering us to observe Lord Schneizel?"

No answer was given to the man as he excused himself before the emperor.

"Shall I look forward to this development?", muttered the Emperor of Britannia to himself as he glanced towards the setting sun.

_"Should I... Marianne?"_

xxx

"A-ah! I'm so bored..."

He sighed. Even though he knew that it wasn't anyone's fault but he could not help being bored the hell out of it. He wished that the world would return to the peaceful times of before. Of the times that he and Lelouch would go around the town, gambling and challenging random nobles out of their money through the game of chess. Despite it was mostly Lelouch's work and him just reaping the rewards at the sidelines.

How he missed those times... it was fun. And not so _life-threatening_.

Rivalz kicked away the stray rock along his path. Where on earth did that _idiot_  go to? Making him worry like this; making _everyone_ worry about him by disappearing without a trace. He had cropped out a theory earlier, that Zero might be Lelouch as both of them disappeared at the same time but then he changed his mind. But he was not the only one disappearing. Kallen... as well as Nina had also gone missing, and they can't _all_ be Zero at the same time... right?

What the hell was happening to the world? Would their old peaceful life return to normal after all of this was over? With a lot of his friends gone missing and _acting_ differently, he doubted that wish would ever come to reality.

 _"On the other hand, why is Suzaku not coming back to see us?"_ , thought Rivalz as he sauntered towards the boy's dormitory. He could at least get some _reassurance_ that this current situation wasn't so bad if the guy would appear and tell him so.

xxx

Kallen groaned loudly.

What the hell did C.C. mean... leaving her to be in charge of the Order by herself? That just not making any sense! How could she _alone_ manage the Order and lead the fight? It was too much a responsibility! There would so many things to do and consider... and she did not have that much confidence that she could take command of everyone the way Zero did...

Kallen sighed.

_"I already felt like I'm failing Zero..."_

The morale in the Order was dropping. There were rumours flying about of Zero's death. And the Britannian army was fighting back with even more force and with Lancelot leading them in the battle as well as aid from Lady Cornelia and Lord Schneizel. And the Order kept losing one battle after another. Even if they _do_ get some _victory_ in between. The Order didn't need her, even if she was the one and only person entrusted by their _leader_ with the designation of Q1. The order needed their leader. They needed  _Zero_  to lead them to victory.

The man who could create miracles out of nothing.

xxx

_"Zero... I cannot do this alone! Where are you?"_

"Giving up Kallen? That's _so_ not sounding like you..."

Kallen gasped as she turned around towards the sound of the voice.

"Lelouch—? How... what are you doing here?", asked Kallen in alarm as Lelouch sat beside her. The lad chuckled.

"You looked like the weight of the world reside on your back, take it easy. Relax... or you'll end up looking like an old lady—", teased Lelouch, totally ignoring her earlier questions. Kallen's face flushed red. He laughed again before suddenly looked away as if in deep thought. Kallen frowned at the sudden change of attitude.

"Lelouch, wha—"

"Don't worry too much. I'm sure that you can manage the Order by yourself. I have faith in you," said Lelouch suddenly as he turned and smiled at her. Kallen blinked.

_What? How... don't tell me that Lelouch knew of the fact that I'm part of the Order of the Black Knights? If not, why did he suddenly say this when I happened to be thinking about the Order right now?_

Her thoughts were in a mess. Had she been reckless? Had she been careless so much that her identity was exposed easily by him? She thought she had managed to deceive him last time...

"Lelouch, I—"

Kallen suddenly froze as Lelouch suddenly gave her a kiss on her cheeks. She turned towards him as he started to say something. Kallen frowned for she could not hear his voice as everything around her become darker and darker...

xxx

_"—llen!"_

She felt herself being shaken by someone.

"Kallen... wake up!"

Kallen shook her head as she looked up towards Ohgi. "Wha—?"

Ohgi sighed. "It's about time you woke up. I thought you had been in deep thought or something the way you were sitting upright like that. It took me a while to realize that you were sleeping—"

Kallen frowned.

_"I was... asleep? Then just now... was it a dream?"_

Ohgi frowned. "Kallen? Is something wrong?", he asked as Kallen immediately shook her head. "—I know it's been hard to you as much to everyone right now. What with Zero going missing... Kallen, do you want to take some rest or something? I'll handle the matter with the Order by myself then..."

"Ah... Ohgi," she gasped, "you don't have to—I can't put it all on you—"

"Don't worry! You take some rest, Kallen... leave it all to us. You've done enough already for the time being. Don't push yourself too much. Don't forget that you have all of us to support you. All of us placed our trust on you and we know that you had the best of intentions for the Order. But you must really rest... we can't have you getting sick now, do we? After all... you're our  _Ace_  pilot,"

_"I have faith in you..."_

Kallen blinked as Lelouch's words in her dream come to mind. Wiping the stray tear that suddenly started to fall, she smiled at Ohgi.

"Yes—"

A sudden explosion distracted her thoughts as everyone was thrown into chaos. Kallen cursed aloud as she ran towards her own Knightmare...


	4. At the Pinnacle of Life and Death

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Currently, I had a new idea on the plot that doesn't involve Lelouch joining Schneizel in partnership. But then, rereading the old chapters I was kinda reluctant to completely throw them away. So for the new write up, some parts of the old plot would remain... and then I'll slowly turn them towards another direction.

_Another day another battle..._

Suzaku sighed as he climbed out of Lancelot's cockpit. He walked towards the resting area as he took a cup of water and sat down to drink. He sighed again as he took his break. Everything hurt. Every limb and muscle in his body ached. It was all because of this _war_.

It was hard enough that he was fighting the Order alongside Britannians. To think that he was helping Britannians to subdue the Japanese revolutionist, hit his heart harder. Ever since that _fateful_ day, the _majority_ of the Japanese had turned their allegiance towards the Order. Now it was not just some small terrorist group fighting the Britannian administration—it was the whole population! All of this chaos, all of this started because of Zero's _existence_. If Zero did not exist, this nightmare would not have started. But the reality was not that hopeful. It cannot be denied that this nightmare had happened. Nothing can change that fact now. Denying it—and wishing for a different thing to happen instead would not bring back the dead.

_It will not bring **Euphie** back from the dead._

Hah. Even as Zero now no longer leading the Order, nothing had changed. The Order had continued to take over some parts of the region and drove the Britannians away from those areas. As if Zero was still leading them. He had heard rumours. That after the news that Zero had gone missing the Order had been led by another person. He even heard that Toudou-sensei had now taken over the leadership for the Order's military activities.

_Zero._

Unbelievable. Just because of this one person, the whole world had started moving in a completely different direction. Because of his daring act of fighting against Britannia, now everyone was rising against the empire. Just because of _one_ person.

_Lelouch._

_Why did Zero **have** to be Lelouch?_

The memories of seeing the back of his former friend flashed again into his mind. Memories of his retreating form before the lad stopped and they were engulfed in bright light. He was knocked down amidst all of that, but he'd gone back to look for Lelouch the next moment when he could. Yet no trace of Lelouch's _body_ could be found. He found the Zero mask instead, its visor cracked and Zero's cape several meters away from it. Some traces of blood could be found near the area. But there was no Lelouch. It was possible that his former friend had survived as he did but with the thick layer of dust surrounding the area—it was nearly _impossible_ for someone to survive from that. Though, it could be that Lelouch's body might be trapped under some rubble. Which would mean...

Suzaku shook his head from the image.

Zero was his enemy. But he cannot deny the fact that _Lelouch_ was his _friend_. Thinking about how he might have died did not make it easier for him to swallow. And his mind hovered over Nunnally.

For the time being, she—along with the rest of the Ashford students—was safe. The area where the academy situated was after all located near Viceroy's Palace. So any protection that was in place around the palace would have been extended towards the surrounding areas! Despite that, Suzaku dared not drop by and take a look at Nunnally. That young girl would have certainly asked about Lelouch and he hadn't the heart to tell her—or the other student council members—that he might be dead. Even though he was not the one directly responsible for causing Lelouch's death—indirectly, he did. Lelouch would not have come out of his Knightmare had he not wanted to talk to him. And if not because of that, Lelouch wouldn't be...

And that was the main reason that he could not face Nunnally. Lelouch had been everything for Nunnally. In fact, he was _everything_ that Nunnally ever needed or wanted. To think that he had caused Nunnally grief; despite how the girl had tried to cheer him up in the past. It was unacceptable!

_Lelouch._

_"Why did you have to—why did you have to be THAT person?"_

xxx

Suzaku blinked as he glimpsed Lord Schneizel coming out towards the corridors. He immediately made himself scarce as he spied the room from which the man had come out of. He frowned as he noticed that it was the infirmary. But he hasn't heard of anyone getting injured... moreover people who the prince would  _personally_ go to check on them in private. And as far as he had remembered, Euphie's body had already been taken away earlier and was on the way to be sent to the homeland.

The Japanese cautiously sneaked pass the corridors towards the room that he had spied and entered it. When he turned to see the person that was lying on the bed, it took him all of his willpower to not swear aloud. Suzaku Kururugi could not believe his eyes.

No wonder he could not find any sign of Zero... or Zero's _supposedly_  dead body.

So this was where _Lelouch Lamperouge_ had been. Who would have thought?

xxx

Funny how sometimes you wished for something to happen and then wishing for it not be happening when you've got that wish granted. Because that was _exactly_ what he had been thinking now. Deep inside his heart, he had hoped that Lelouch would survive the ordeal yet—he also wished that Euphie's _killer_ would just _die_ and stayed _dead_.

_"Why_

_—why couldn't life be any less complicated?"_

Suzaku turned on the switch that controlled the glass cover as the cover retracted itself. He stared towards Lelouch as he barely heard the sound of his soft breathing. He looked as frail as Euphie was but unlike her, Lelouch was still _alive_. How he had wished that it was Euphie lying on that bed rather than...

A crazy thought hit him suddenly as Suzaku removed the breathing mask from Lelouch's face and wrapped both his hand around Lelouch's neck. Slowly and steadily he applied pressure to his hand as he slowly strangled the person once known as Zero before him. Lelouch reacted unconsciously as his breathing become harder. As Lelouch's vitals became weaker, the machine that monitored his heartbeat suddenly emitted a loud sound. That jerked Suzaku out of his trance. As if just realizing his actions, he immediately let go of his hand from Lelouch's neck.

_What was he doing... how could he..._

Suzaku felt a slight feeling of contempt towards himself again as he buried his face in Lelouch's chest.

"I'm sorry... _Lelouch_ —"

Suzaku cried as he held on Lelouch body lightly.

The sound of the door behind him opening as well as sounds of approaching footsteps caught Suzaku's attention suddenly. He got up and turned around to find himself face to face with _Prince Schneizel_ himself. Schneizel just snorted.

"I was wondering when would you discover my young brother over there... and I thank you for not proceeding with your intent at killing him. That would've made my efforts in rescuing and caring for him these past few days become vain."

"But my lord... this person! You can't just recklessly—"

Schneizel gave him a curious look.

"Do you know something I don't on why I shouldn't have Lelouch here?"

Suzaku immediately responded. "Because he's dangerous! He has the ability to control people to do what he wants! It's how he managed to kill Prince Clovis before and evade capture all these times... as well as whatever else he's done in the past! Even Euphie...!"

Schneizel frowned. "Euphie? What did you mean..."

Without a word, Suzaku went to Lelouch's side and lifted his unconscious body to show to Schneizel. Suzaku paused, as he was not sure which side of Lelouch's eye that should contain the Geass. The child who called himself V.V. told him about Lelouch's Geass after all... but before he could ask for more information the child just disappeared. He did not know for sure where should...

Suzaku pried open Lelouch's right eye at first—seeing nothing special, he kicked himself mentally.  _Did that V.V. kid trick him?_   But then Suzaku did the same to Lelouch's left eye and—a faint purplish glow could be seen from the iris. Suzaku frowned again as he showed the eye towards Schneizel.

"Here it is," said Suzaku finally, as he manhandled Lelouch like a broken doll. Schneizel let out a gasp... yet to Suzaku's surprise, the prince did not look as shocked as he would expect from the man...

xxx

He woke up to find himself in an unfamiliar, _sterile_ room. Without thinking he tried to move but then regretted the action right away as all of the pain on his body started coming back at him all at once. It took him a while to recall the last piece of memory that he could remember.

_He was turning away from Suzaku before being greeted by a large explosion..._

Lelouch winced as he recalled the moment right before he blacked out and almost let out a loud curse due to the pain in his head and shoulders. He opened his eyes again.

_"Was it... am I... in some kind of infirmary?"_

Lelouch slowly reached his hand out to his face and pulled out a breathing tube that was placed over his nostrils. He tried to move his head slowly, and felt slightly dizzy. He moved his hand further up his head and not surprisingly, he felt the bandage that was wrapped just over his forehead. 

_So, he at least had sustained a head injury after the blast._

Lelouch turned his glance towards the room and his heart stopped a beat when he saw a Britannian insignia on a coat that was placed on top of one of the medical equipment. Or rather, the coat looked almost exactly as the one usually worn by his older brother _Schneizel_. He groaned.

_"Did Schneizel somehow found me?"_

He hastily pulled out the IV tubing attached to one of his hands as Lelouch rolled himself off the bed. Lelouch fell to the floor with a thud but ignored the pain in his body as he struggled towards the exit. Lelouch frowned at the display panel on the infirmary door as he tried to open it. He hissed as he couldn't get it to open.

_Of course, it's locked. Who'd in their right mind leave a prisoner by himself unwatched like this?_

Lelouch ignored the buzzing in his head as he tried to unlock the door. For an infirmary room like this... it shouldn't have a security system that's too rigid. Even if he missed the correct code the first few times, it shouldn't trigger the alarm system right away.

Well, he hoped that was the case here.

Lelouch tried a particular combination of numbers as the security pad beeped negatively at him. No alarm was sounded because of that. Slightly relieved, Lelouch tried a few other combinations until finally one of them was accepted. Without warning, Lelouch fell over as the door he was leaning on swished open.

 _"Success!"_ he snorted to himself as Lelouch push himself to escape from the infirmary...

xxx

Elsewhere, just at the outskirts of the Shinjuku ghetto...

Kallen staggered towards the driveway. She was not expecting that their locations to be found out so suddenly. But the Britannian military arrived and the Black Knights ended up being scattered during the fight. Few of the Knights were captured and she had to also abandon her Guren during the skirmish. Kallen sighed.

At least not _all_ of them had been caught. Before she lost contact with the others, Kallen managed to tell the remaining Black Knights to make themselves scarce until the time they could regroup. And hopefully, the number of survivors were greater than the ones who were captured. So now that she didn't need to worry about the rest of the Knights, all that remained was her _own_ predicament.

_Where should she go to hide? Suzaku knew her face so going back to her family home was not a good decision. Ashford? No... that would be too risky. And the place was near the Viceroy's Palace._

Kallen sighed again as she thought of her friends at Ashford. How was everyone back there? Were they safe? Milly, Shirley, Rivalz, Nunnally... and _Lelouch_. Her thoughts went back towards the random dream she had. She snorted to herself.

_Why on earth her thoughts started wandering towards **him** again?_

Kallen then let out a shrug.

All of the Student Council members should be alright. They had _nothing_ to do with her resistance and there was no reason for Britannia to hurt them. No harm should befall them.

She glanced towards another direction of the Sokkai area. It seemed that despite recent battle, the destruction level was not that bad in those areas. Already, she could see some group of workers starting on the rebuilding works for the city. Her eyes finally landed towards the direction of the hospital that she had sent her mother in. Silently, she prayed for her mother to remain safe until they finally succeeded in their revolution.

Just as she was about to make her move again, Kallen heard some noise.Immediately, she made herself scarce. Shortly after, two Britannian soldiers passed by near her... chatting idly. She paid them no attention until the point that she heard Zero being mentioned. Kallen turned as she tried to catch whatever they were talking about.

xxx

"—you heard it right? Or was this just rumours? My Lord won't do such things—"

"But it was still suspicious. I've heard that since that Zero bastard went MIA, Lord Schneizel appeared to be preoccupied with something. Makes you wonder if the lord doesn't really care about this business right now, rounding up the rebels—"

"Hush. You have no right to question the authority. Perhaps the lord was just rethinking our strategy with regards to the rabble. After all... we shouldn't let our guards with those Elevens. Those people are like cockroaches, if we leave some of them free... they'll come back in greater numbers—"

Kallen bit her lips as she restrained herself from attacking them. _Damned Britannians..._

"But weren't you curious? I heard that there's a covert group being sent out towards a private school nearby. Makes you wonder what the fuss was that all about—"

The other guy quickly nudged the other in alarm.

"Silence! This was supposed to be a secret. The brass will get our heads if something goes wrong. Let's go—"

The two soldiers hurriedly left the area as Kallen came out of hiding. She frowned.

_"A covert group? But then the only private school around her that she was aware of was only Ashford! Then why?"_

Something was not right. But she would get to the bottom of that later. What bothered her were the things mentioned by the soldiers earlier. What was that Britannian prince up to? Could it be possible that the second prince had captured Zero and kept that a secret? After all, Zero had since gone missing without a trace... and she would never believe the hearsays about Zero being killed. Since C.C. herself said that he should be okay, so she'll cling to that hope for as long as she could.

Kallen bit her lips. It was a shallow chance but it was worth the risk. She'll save Zero for everyone's sake!

With that resolve, Kallen disappeared into the shadows.


	5. Turning point of Fate

Cornelia frowned as the car she was in headed towards the direction of a clubhouse that was tied to the Ashford Academy. Apparently, there was _someone_  whom she was supposed to pick up at the place yet her older brother did not tell her who was it she was supposed to meet. That... annoyed her so much.

But even more annoying, was that she had to receive this assignment from _Kururugi Suzaku_. The knight that failed to protect Euphemia. What kind of insult for her to follow orders from the likes of—

When she entered the clubhouse, she immediately headed towards the direction that Suzaku had told her to go. Suppose that  _someone_ was being kept in this place for some unknown reason? But then, who could that be? Someone who related to Zero? Since that should be the only reason that could justify herself being ordered over something  _trivial_ like this. After all, rather than playing chauffeur... she'd rather be out on the battlefield to hunt for the _missing_ Zero...

The moment she got into the room, Cornelia couldn't believe her eyes at what she was seeing.

"Ah! W-who's... there?"

Cornelia felt as if the grounds had been pulled away from her feet. How could this be possible? Was this a dream? Cornelia blinked a few times but the figure on a wheelchair in front of her remained the same. She immediately rushed over to embrace the child.

xxx

Suzaku turned on his radio transceiver as he received the report. Cornelia had secured Nunnally at Ashford and was on her way back.

He sighed.

A part of him felt bad for deciding to tell the prince about it. Yet, a part of him felt that this was the right choice. There should be no point in continuing this pointless struggle. Only innocent lives would be lost and still, _nothing_ could be changed in the situation. Japan did not _need_ Zero to continue this fight.

He didn't expect to be forgiven for this. Even if he had to play dirty... as long as he achieved his purpose, then it should be fine. If Zero—Lelouch—would still want to continue this fight, then even if he had to use Nunnally as hostage then so be it. He wouldn't allow any more people to be sacrificed!

Suzaku blinked suddenly as he realised where he was. It seemed that without knowing, he ended up walking towards the infirmary where Lelouch was being placed. Well, since he was already here he might as well check up on—just as he was about to reach the room, Suzaku stopped himself.

_The infirmary room door was open..._

Suzaku hurried into the room hoping that it wasn't what he feared but as he got in, he got his confirmation.

_Lelouch had escaped from the infirmary._

He immediately turned on his radio as he alerted the second prince about the situation. This place was big, but considering Lelouch's condition... he shouldn't be able to go too far. There's no way he'll let Zero get away from him again!

xxx

This was madness. Who on earth was mad enough to infiltrate into the Viceroy's Palace  _alone_ and without any backup plans? Oh, wait... that's _her_. She—Kouzuki Kallen—was the _idiot_  who was reckless enough to do something like this without thinking it through.

All over some _unconfirmed_ assumption. If Zero wasn't being imprisoned in the palace as she thought, her attempt right now would just be like walking into a _lion's den_ willingly.

A group of guards were running past the corridors as Kallen hastily hid behind the emergency staircase.

That aside, it was oddly  _easy_ for her to sneak into the palace for some reason. Considering that Tokyo area at the moment was still a volatile battlefield, it was strange to find the Viceroy's Palace to be _lightly_ guarded.

_Did something happen?_

Kallen resumed her search towards another level of the building as she caught sight of some more guards nearby. She carefully sneaked closer towards them as two of the guards were in the middle of a conversation.

"—you found him yet?" asked one of the guards as the other replied.

"No. But the reports said the prisoner was injured, so it was unlikely that he would be able to escape the area quickly enough. Continue the search!"

Kallen frowned as she watched the guards leave but at the sound of another approaching footstep, she hastily hid into an empty office. Just in time to avoid encountering Kururugi Suzaku from seeing her.

Kallen peeked out of the room again to see Suzaku heading towards another corridor. Once she lost sight of him, Kallen let out a relieved sigh. She should have at least acquire a blueprint or at least a layout map of this place before trying to sneak in. How careless of her.

_Then again, when it comes to Zero... since when had she ever do things rationally? For the sake of THAT person, as long as that person believed that she was capable of doing anything... she'll do anything humanly possible for him!_

Just as she was about to sneak out again, a  _pencil case_  came flying out of nowhere and hit her shoulder.

xxx

She almost screamed in shock.

_"Kallen... i-it's you, isn't it?"_

Kallen felt her heart leap. _This voice! Could it be—?_ She was about to exclaim in joy as she turned around and hurried towards the voice, but then stopped herself as she recognised the person lying weakly at the corner of the room.

"Lelouch? Why're... you here? W-why—are you hurt?"

Lelouch gave her a weak smile.

"Long story. One that honestly... I don't really mind telling if only we had time to waste." The young man glanced up towards her. "That aside... I need your help to get out of this place."

Kallen bit her lips. Seeing Lelouch like this... it pained her to have to abandon him. Yet, Zero—!

"Lelouch! I'm sorry... but right now—!"

Lelouch unexpected reply afterwards caught her by surprise.

"You can't waste time doing something else without finding _Zero_ first, you mean?"

Kallen could feel her heart racing rapidly. _How could Lelouch figure out that she wanted to..._

Lelouch weakly pushed himself onto his feet as he slowly stepped closer towards her. "Honestly... this is not how I'd wish... to reveal the truth—!"

Kallen gasped as Lelouch suddenly collapsed, catching him barely before both of them fell to the floor. Just as she tried to gather her wits over everything, Kallen finally started to notice—by the stray moonlights leaking from the nearby windows—that Lelouch's _clothes_ were almost _exactly_ like the one that Zero often wore. It was a bit tattered here and there... but there was no mistake—!

"Lelouch, are you... really... Zero?" she gasped softly, despite the fact that Lelouch wasn't able to answer her back.

Then again, as she gathered her thoughts again—Lelouch's injuries... the things she saw back at the site where Zero was last seen. Where C.C. said she saw Zero last stood before losing sight of him. Kallen thought about the _broken mask_ , as well the bloodied cape. And Lelouch right now was missing a cape as well. Kallen frowned at the boy before her.

_"Why must Lelouch be Zero? Someone like him..."_

But since he was Zero, it was now up to her to rescue him from this place.

Kallen bit her lips again.

Then again...

_...how on earth was she supposed to take Lelouch out of here now?_


	6. Scattered Paths

C.C. kept herself hidden as she watch Cornelia and her men gathered Nunnally's things and took the girl away from the clubhouse. She also took note that none of the people from Ashford—particularly Milly's grandfather—were around when the younger princess was taken away. So either these people came in without notice, or they already dealt with the Ashfords to ensure that they wouldn't interfere. But still, why would Cornelia find out about Nunnally's whereabouts now? And if someone had leaked the info, for what reason?

"Could it... be because it has something to do with Lelouch?" she spoke softly, not expecting a reply to come after. Since how else would they found out about Nunnally's location unless— _Kururugi Suzaku._ But even for that person... he would have needed some kind of strong _justification_ for this action. Since Suzaku wouldn't have wanted to endanger Nunnally for no reason, his broken relationship with Lelouch aside. And such strong justification would have been... to gain an _advantage_ over Zero. Or more specifically... _Lelouch._

And there was no other worse weak point to Lelouch other than his sister.

A faint curse caught C.C.'s attention as she turned her attention towards the sound. Her eyes caught a hint of _blond hair_ as she cautiously moved closer to investigate.

It was then that she caught sight of V.V. walking away. C.C. frowned.

Perhaps it was a good thing that it was Lelouch's _siblings_ who had Nunnally in custody rather than the _uncle_. Regardless, perhaps she needed to reconsider her current actions.

Since she now had a clue to where to find Lelouch.

xxx

" _...honestly, this is not how I'd wish to reveal the truth—"_

What... who was it that she should believe in now? _Zero?_ _Lelouch?_ Just when she thought she could trust _Zero_ with her whole heart... it turned out she had been _lied_ to by the other. Just when she thought _Lelouch_ was just an ordinary, _harmless_ teenager... he turned out to be—!

Kallen glanced down towards the unconscious person who was lying on his lap. Now that she thought about it, it's interesting that she had that earlier dream about Lelouch just when she had worried about Zero. As if deep inside her heart, she already _knew_ that Lelouch and Zero was the same person. But that's ridiculous, considering the many times Lelouch tried to convince her that he was not Zero when she first suspected him. Yet in the end... she had been right about him all along.

_What should she do now?_

She ran her hand over the bandages on Lelouch's head. Despite her current conflicted mind with regards to the person in front of her at the moment, Kallen felt her heart aching at the sight. Why was it... that it hurts her to see him injured like this? As far as she could recall from her past interactions with Lelouch in Ashford, she didn't really have that much attachment towards him. Yet, Lelouch was Zero... the person whom she had grown attached for a while now. Kallen ran her hands even more downwards, as her fingers barely grazed the half-opened shirt that Lelouch was wearing. She could see hints of bandages covering his chest.

Kallen thought of how Lelouch was at school. He wasn't the type who had a very strong physical body. Compared to her... or even _more_ against Suzaku, Lelouch would just be like some other weak-bodied youths she'd seen anywhere. But when she considered the many things _Zero_ have done in the past, if she'd just superimpose _Lelouch's_ image onto _him—_

_For someone like Lelouch to get hurt like this..._

Lelouch suddenly stirred as Kallen caressed his cheeks gently. He let out a groan as Kallen helped him to sit up.

"I-I'm sorry... Kallen, I _—_ "

Kallen gave him a gentle smile. "Don't be. It must've been hard on you right now, being injured like this. If I could let you rest and recover your strengths even for a little... I wouldn't mind waiting on you no matter how long it took."

Lelouch returned the smile, and at that moment... Kallen could see a glimpse of a _red glow_ from Lelouch's left eye.

"Lelouch, what's that... your left eye _—_ "

Lelouch blinked at her, before shaking his head. "I'll tell you later... I suppose, including about this eye you'd have plenty of other questions you'd want to ask me." 

He let out a long sigh regardless. "But I guess... it's also good that you're the one that found me here."

Kallen cocked her head towards Lelouch. Lelouch just shrugged at her.

"It seemed that it's been quiet for a while out there..." he turned towards Kallen. "Think it's time for us to make our move?"

Kallen needed no more encouragement besides that.

xxx

It took a while for her to retrace her steps following the routes that she'd use to sneak into the palace. But then, in between the routes, she noticed that some of the areas that had been empty before were now filled with a number of guards.

"We can't use this path," Kallen muttered to herself as she led Lelouch towards another direction. Lelouch just nodded to her, knowing that even Kallen wouldn't be able to subdue so many guards at once by herself.

The two of them ended up heading towards an empty hallway, where they could see another emergency staircase nearby. Lelouch nudged Kallen to head towards the emergency staircase since it would've been the best option for them to choose, considering that both of them were clueless of the layouts of the building.

But just as they're about to clear the path towards the staircase, a lone guard suddenly cried out towards them and ran over to stop them. Kallen gasped at the intrusion as Lelouch immediately reacted by facing the guard directly.

"Stop!" Lelouch's commanding voice rang clear as the guard suddenly stopped running towards them. "I order you to head to the opposite hallway!"

The guard immediately stood to attention, slamming his fist towards his chest. "Yes, Your Highness!" droned the man before rushing off, away from the two. Lelouch took the chance to grab Kallen and headed towards the staircase before anyone else could come over and see them.

xxx

Kallen stared at Lelouch questioningly as he staggered against the railing. Lelouch pressed the side of his head as he tried to regain his bearing.

"Guess in my condition right now, I shouldn't push myself _too hard_..."

"Lelouch..."

Lelouch glanced up towards Kallen as he saw her frowning at him.

"What was that? Why did the guard act like that when you _talked_ to him?"

Well, guess he should have expected it to happen anyway. Since sooner or later Kallen would've still found out about his Geass.

"It's a power that was given to me before," Lelouch shrugged towards her. "It's how I managed to accomplish half of the miracles I've done in the past. Does finding out about this made the miracles lose their magic to you?"

Kallen hastily shook her head at him as Lelouch just waved off the gesture.

"Don't worry. My powers will not have any effect on you... if that's what you—"

Kallen didn't let him finish his words as she grabbed Lelouch's arm again to help him descend the stairs. She paused as Lelouch glanced towards her.

"You don't have to clarify it for me," she started to say. "Even if you _did_ use your powers on me, I'll trust you that you won't make me do something against my will."

She turned towards him. "Also, frankly... right now at least, I think I wouldn't mind taking any orders from you over anything. If I could do something to free Japan from Britannia, I'll do whatever it is that you needed me to do."

Lelouch let out a gasp. To be fair, he wasn't expecting to hear that answer from Kallen not long after he revealed his identity to her. Yet, a part of him couldn't help feeling relieved.

"Thank you... my _Q1_."

xxx

It just happened that he was taking a walk at night to ease his boredom. And perhaps check out the clubhouse to see if Lelouch had gone back _home_. The dormitory checks have been lax lately so Rivalz didn't really feel _too_ bad about breaking curfews.

He didn't expect to see a Britannian official vehicle to be parked in front of the clubhouse with some of the royal guards standing nearby. Rivalz hastily lunged behind some tall hedges as one of the guards turned their face towards him. He peeked out his head about to take another look.

Just at the moment, the clubhouse door opened as a tall man with a long hair tied behind him walked out carrying Nunnally in his arms. Another guard walked out with Nunnally's wheelchair to put it into the car's luggage compartment. Rivalz frowned as he thought he recognized the man as Lady Cornelia's personal knight. Sure enough, as soon as he thought about it... said royalty came out and entered the car that the knight had carried Nunnally into. Shortly after, that car, alongside a few escorts left the compound and out of the Ashford Academy's gates. Rivalz stood up once the coast was clear.

_Now that was odd..._


	7. Forced Stalemate

Kallen couldn't help feeling that her adventures for the day turned up to be quite _anticlimactic_ in the end. Just earlier she had berated herself over her recklessness at launching a rescue mission by herself with a lot of varying risks, which would lead in a definite _failure_. Yet right now, she and Lelouch were _breezing_ past stray Britannian security units with _ease_ due to Lelouch's Geass power.   
  
Yet, a part of her couldn't help feeling wary. Since things had gone _way_ too smoothly, it felt as if the tides could turn on them anytime _soon_.  
  
A random alarm suddenly started blaring as Kallen jumped in fright.  
  
"Goodness! That gave me quite a scare!" she started to say before noticing Lelouch not looking too good. She immediately rushed to him as Lelouch started pressing the side of his head in pain.

"What's wrong—" she was about to say as Lelouch grabbed her arm tightly, unable to speak. It was then when she noticed the bandage that was still wrapped around his forehead and the fact that the alarm sounds around them was still very ringing loudly.  
  
_"It's the alarm sounds!"_ she realized before turning around to find something to use to stop the sound. When she found it, she wasted no time to smash the nearby speakers that transmitted the alarm sounds.  
  
A few seconds later, she realized her folly. The sound of the alarm was dampened at the hall room they were in but then she realized that the alarm sound did not  _only_ came from the room they were in. It was on the whole floor! So if the enemy wanted to locate them, they could pinpoint the area where the alarm sounds had been disrupted...  
  
Kallen hastily dragged Lelouch away as he tried to catch up to her with difficulty. But _that_ only lasted after a few minutes as Lelouch's pace started _faltering._  
  
Lelouch staggered as he tried to catch his breath. "No use. I can't... _anymore_. Kallen, you have to go without me,"  
  
"No way! I can't leave you—"  
  
Just as she spoke, she heard sounds of a large number of footsteps approaching. Not long after, Kallen found them surrounded. She bit her lips as Suzaku calmly walked towards them.  
  
"Dammit!" she exclaimed before hearing something fell behind her. Kallen turned around.  
  
She cried out as she saw Lelouch collapsed on the floor.

xxx

He was lying on a bed again as he regained consciousness. His eyes felt heavy-lidded as if he had been sleeping for far _longer_ than he used to. When he opened his eyes, immediately he realized that something was _different._ Aside from the fact that his line of sight was now limited, the room he was in was far emptier than the last one he woke up to. And also... he came to realize belatedly, that he was again alone by himself.  
  
"Kallen!" he cried out, before realising that something was holding his hands to his sides. Lelouch immediately pushed himself to sit up with some difficulty.  
  
Lelouch looked down at the restraints holding on to his wrists at each side of the bed. He then glanced up to look around the room to see that the room barely had any decoration or pieces of furniture; save the bed he's lying on as well as a surveillance camera mounted on the far corner of the room. There was only one high window facing outside—not that he could reach it to escape—as well as a small rectangular opening on the door. Most likely to allow someone outside to look in and check on him.  
  
So basically he's being put into a detention cell. And Kallen most likely inside another.  
  
What a failed miraculous escape, if he should say himself...

xxx

The next time he was awake again... he noticed that he had a visitor. An annoying one, in fact. Lelouch tried to ignore him again even as someone else was forcing him to sit up to get him to greet the visitor. He didn't have to turn his head to know who that other one was. Lelouch tried to push him away but the person kept a strong grip on him.

_Why can't people just let him be?_

"—louch? Can you hear me? Lelouch?"

So annoying. As if his head didn't already start to hurt, listening to that voice.

_"Second Prince Schneizel... and second princess Cornelia. They would know."_

Immediately he recalled what Clovis had told him when he asked him if he knew anything about the incident that took his mother's life. Since then, Lelouch had waited for the moment when he could get the information he wanted from his other older siblings. What a wasted chance. Just when he could get a chance to interrogate the man, he had to be in this kind of situation. 

"Don't be so stubborn now, Lelouch! Admit your loss!", said the other person as a hand started to grab his face to make him look up.

Right away he took his chance to bite the hand who dared touch him. The loud cry that came after made him feel slightly better. 

"Kururugi... bring that other girl here." Lelouch's ears perked up as he turned to see Suzaku walking out of the room. Presumably to fetch Kallen from another cell. Sure enough, shortly after Suzaku returned with Kallen on tow.

"Kallen!" Lelouch cried out to her. Immediate as he said it, Kallen shoved Suzaku aside roughly before escaping to his side.

Lelouch turned his face towards Schneizel, his expressions remained blank. "You caught me again. To what do I owe the pleasure of having my royal captor visiting me personally?"

Schneizel just laughed. "Now dear, must you describe the situation so crassly? Why can't you see my position here of just wanting to keep my long lost brother safe from harm? After all, had I not saved you while you're lying unconscious in the battlefield prior?"

Lelouch could hear a gasp coming from his side as he hastily grabbed Kallen's hand to calm her. But looking at her shocked expressions, he could tell that if he didn't immediately explain to him of his situation he might as well lose the only other ally he's got right now. He turned to face Schneizel immediately.

"Why didn't you leave me for dead? After all, hadn't the whole imperial family treated me and Nunnally as dead all these times? Why suddenly act as if you cared about me now? Is it to turn me into another political tool now that I'm again of some use to you?

Schneizel made a face at him. "Oh Lelouch, how could you think that I would—And speaking of Nunnally..."

Without warning, Cornelia burst into the room as his elder sister walked over towards their direction, openly enraged. "Brother! What's the meaning of this? Just as I'm wondering why you've been acting strange, to find Nunnally at that place—"

Lelouch immediately tensed. "WHAT IS THIS ABOUT NUNNALLY? DON'T YOU TOUCH HER!"

xxx

Kallen felt her heart racing rapidly at the scene before her. Just when she started to digest the fact that Lelouch turned out to be an _Imperial_ prince—it's not that strange to consider believe since Lelouch always _did_ have a regal aura anyway—she had to witness him having an intense verbal fight with his older siblings over Nunnally's wellbeing.

After the sudden appearance of Cornelia, it was revealed that Suzaku had told Schneizel that Nunnally was alive as well following Lelouch's discovery. It was because of that that Cornelia was sent to recover their lost sister at the Ashford Academy. But Lelouch wouldn't have it their way and was alarmed that Schneizel had to bring back Nunnally into the imperial family. As if it was bad enough that the two princes were having a shouting match, Cornelia had to finally take note that Lelouch was in fact Zero.

"Lelouch? What—don't tell me that you are Zero?" Cornelia exclaimed, just as Lelouch turned his attention towards her. "Are you telling me that the one who killed Clovis—shot _Euphie_ —was you all along?"

"YES! Would it change anything if I said no?" 

Lelouch was screaming himself hoarse by this time, but Kallen couldn't help noticing the tears that kept flowing from Lelouch's eye. Cornelia didn't fare any better as she started lunging towards Lelouch, demanding why he had to kill Euphie. To the point that she had to try to forcefully separate her from Lelouch since Cornelia was grasping onto Lelouch too tightly.

"WHAT'RE YOU TRYING TO DO WITH NUNNALLY? LEAVE NUNNALLY ALONE!"

"DON'T CHANGE THE TOPIC! HOW COULD YOU KILL EUPHIE? HOW COULD YOU? EVEN IF BOTH OF YOU WEREN'T BORN OF THE SAME MOTHER, YOU'RE STILL—!"

Schneizel kept holding Cornelia at bay before telling Suzaku to call for some help. Within moments, two guards came by to take the princess away and two medical attendants came to take on the hysterical Lelouch.

"What're you doing to him!" Kallen cried out as she was pushed aside by one of the two attendants. She barely caught seeing one of them injecting Lelouch with something before being ordered to leave. She immediately shoved the attendees aside to get to Lelouch's side.

Lelouch had become much more subdued as Kallen look up accusingly towards the second prince. "What did you just—!"

"Only something to keep my younger brother docile for the moment. Since I cannot have the talk that I've been meaning to have here, I'll take my leave for now."

As the second prince walked out of the cell, Suzaku stayed behind and walked up towards her.

"Let's go. You're going back to your own cell."

"No!" exclaimed Kallen immediately, holding the now unconscious Lelouch close to her body. "I'm not leaving Lelouch defenceless with the likes of you!"

xxx

Lelouch started regaining consciousness after about an hour and a half. Kallen heaved a sigh of relief as the former prince just glanced at her silently before turning away, looking forlorn.

Kallen smiled weakly at him.

"Want to talk about it?" she asked gently as Lelouch gave her a puzzled look.

"Why're you not pressing me to explain about the things you've heard earlier? Not just about my Geass powers, but also the fact that I'm related to those two _towering_ Britannians as well as two other deceased royals? Why're you still here, by my side still despite the things you've found out today?"

Kallen just shrugged. "You said before that you'd give me a proper explanation. And I'm still not forgetting the fact that you helped me before regarding my mum's situation. As well as many other kind things that you've done as yourself. I'd like to think that you deserved to be given a chance to explain your side of things."

Lelouch finally let out a smile to her. "Thank you, Kallen. I can't tell you how much—"

Kallen suddenly let out a surprised yelp before reaching out towards him. "Lelouch, your nose is bleeding!"

The young prince right away placed a hand over his nose and stared at the blood on his hand. He just let out a shrug.

"Don't worry about it, it's probably because of the strain over everything that happened today." Lelouch tapped the side of his bandaged head, "And perhaps, it's also because of _this_."

Kallen grabbed Lelouch's hand before placing it on her hip. "Then that's all the more reason to be concerned about it! I'll call someone, there should be a guard or anyone that I could reach out to—"

"No, don't!" said Lelouch hastily before shaking his head. "It's _nothing_. And right now, I didn't feel like seeing my second brother's face for the second time of the night. It's enough that I have you here with me at the moment."

Kallen placed a hand on Lelouch's cheeks. "All right. But if you started to feel hurt somewhere, you tell me right away you don't hide it from me."

Lelouch nodded slowly. And moments later, he let out a soft sigh.

"Kallen, I wonder if you knew about the Sakuradite negotiation incident seven years ago between Britannia and Japan?"

Kallen frowned at him. "Eh? I... somewhat know the details a bit. It's what led to the invasion of the country, right? What about it?"

Lelouch bit his lips. "Everything. It's when _everything_ started."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ended up revising the scene at the detention cell. Hopefully, this recent change read better in the long run.
> 
> Decided to reuse the term 'royalties' to refer to the plural forms of royalty. Been looking up the terminology and get 'royalties' as the plural form in many sites and while I can't really fully refer to the internet for accuracy, I'll refer to that for now.


	8. Muddled Path

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just gonna put this here. In this fic, people can see Geassed eyes. Ain't no one gonna debate on this.

"Ne, Lelouch. Considering that you're an Imperial prince... it surprised me at how _different_ you were, as compared to that older brother and sister of yours. Not to mention, the late Prince Clovis... and that  _Massacre Princess_ as well..."

Right away Lelouch felt his heart clenched.

 _"Massacre Princess",_ Lelouch thought sadly. " _...was that really the only thing people would remember of Euphie from now on?"_

He let out a long sigh.

"I guess, it's because my mother... unlike most of the other Imperial consorts was a _commoner_. Even back then, not many of the other consorts of my father or my other relatives were quite welcoming of my family. So we barely interacted with most of them. So that may shape our personalities differently."

He shrugged.

"Though, to be fair, Schneizel and Cornelia weren't the worst of my siblings. Even Clovis seemed better than most of the rest. And we're talking about a lot... because my father had quite a number of consorts and even I'm not sure of how many siblings I really _do_ have," he paused, wondering if he should add on it.

But perhaps, if Kallen could understand it... maybe he could extend it to the rest of the Japanese population.

"That aside... Kallen. I'm sure that right now, you and the general populace would never forgive Euphie for what she did at the SAZ. But I hope that one day, you and _everyone_ could forgive her. Euphie—Originally, she wasn't really that bad. She's not the type to start a massacre for no reason."

He could feel Kallen stir behind him as he hastily added, "That time... the one who was truly at fault, was me." That admission made her pause for a moment as he continued. "What happened back then, was an unexpected accident on my part. I couldn't stop her in time and that massacre happened. Euphie—for better or worse, has been earnestly wishing to make the Special Zone a success. Of all my siblings—Nunnally aside, of course—Euphie was the kindest and most trustworthy. If not because of that incident, things here might have turned out differently."

Kallen was quiet for a while, that he almost jumped when she finally spoke.

"Then tell me... what _actually_ happened that day. Why your sister did _that_ instead. Why did she want to kill all of the Japanese people..."

"That... was because my Geass suddenly went out of control." Lelouch could feel Kallen stiffened up behind him as he steeled himself to continue. "At first, I also didn't trust that her plan would work. Euphie may be very kind... but she could also be very _naive_ and clueless about how things worked in this world. But then she told me that she's willing to risk her own title for this and asked for my support by her side... and for a moment I thought that maybe, something like SAZ could really work."

He paused for a moment, waiting for Kallen to respond to what he just said.

"You said that there was an _accident_..."

He didn't realize how he was holding his own breath until her reply. As he took another breath, he nodded to her.

"I initially planned to have her shoot me so that the SAZ plan would be cancelled. That plan was too hastily done... I could think up many other things that could go wrong right after. And it would not be just us, or the rest of the Japanese people who would be in danger... but Euphie herself!"

"Even when Euphie planned it to the best of intentions, I have a good mind to know that establishing and enforcing the SAZ policy would be difficult. Even for her. But then I changed my mind after she said she's willing to give up on her nobility to make this thing work. For Nunnally and my sake, she wanted to create a world where all three of us could live happily together. And as far as I could remember, no one else besides me was foolish enough to willingly throw away their titles for anything but Euphie did. To openly defy our father... that's why I felt that I could trust her. Because she didn't decide on that plan without thinking about it carefully."

He sighed.

"But then she asked me how on earth would I try to make her shoot me if I kept with my initial plan. I told her if I wanted it... she had to obey me no matter what."

He could hear Kallen take a long breath of air. Lelouch could tell that she also arrived at the same conclusion.

"So you told her about your powers?"

He nodded. "And idiot me just had to give her the worst possible order that I could make her do... and Euphie caught my eye. It took me a while to realize that my Geass was activated at the time."

"And you can't cancel it?"

Lelouch shook his head. "I could only use my Geass on a person once. Once it's given, I could not take it back. It's called the power of 'Absolute Obedience' after all. The only other way to stop her besides letting her kill everyone was... to kill her."

He could feel Kallen's hands grasping his arm as he appreciated the gesture.

"Was it hard... having to shoot her yourself?"

Lelouch could feel warm tears start pooling again inside his eyes. He frowned. What was this? Tears... again? Nonsense! He promised himself that he wouldn't cry anymore after that time!

"Yes."

"Was that why you told me before that your Geass won't affect me? Because you've used it on me before?"

He let out a gasp before smiling weakly. That's his girl. He knew that Kallen was bright enough to be able to connect all of the dots on her own. "Yeah," he answered right away.

xxx

Kallen frowned. She had asked that question out of random, to keep the conversation going. As much as she already suspected what the answer would be, it was a bit alarming to have to hear him confirm her suspicions so easily.

"When? When did you use your Geass on me?"

"Ashford," he replied right away. "When I sent that bee at your direction to separate you and those other girls you used to hang out with,"

Kallen blinked. Come to think... that was when Lelouch had started to act oddly friendly towards her. Talking to her out of the blue, noticing her presence. When he never did the last few years prior despite the fact they're always in the same classes. Regardless of the many times, she has been an absentee. And that part about him talking about Shinjuku did make her suspicious of him before.

But that aside...

Kallen turned around suddenly. "You... actually Geass-ed a bee to harass me? Is that even possible?"

Lelouch turned to face her as well, making an odd expression as well. "Hey! It worked! I never thought it was possible for me to do that but it was. Which was puzzling... since I never used my Geass again on any other _non-human_ creatures after that time..."

"So you used your power on me to find out if I'm connected with the terrorist group?" she asked again as he nodded.

"How did you know that I'm part of the group? I mean... I know that you were there in Shinjuku back then, but I didn't recall meeting you directly before."

Lelouch shrugged. "I did see you before that. If you already forgot about it, try to remember the two students on a bike with a sidecar that happened to block the path of the truck you're running off with, back then when you thought you've stolen a secret poison gas capsule."

Kallen blinked. "That's you?"

"And Rivalz. When you guys crashed, I went over to check. But then the truck suddenly moved and I ended up falling into the truck. That's how I met C.C., she's the one who's inside the capsule. Also, the one who gave me this power."

Lelouch paused, most likely to let her sink that fact in before adding, "Anyway, you went to the back to get into the Glasgow... and I saw you. You're not exactly the most forgettable person I've ever set my eyes on so..."

"Oh!" Kallen gasped. But then when she realized that Lelouch has just told her that she was an unforgettable person, her cheeks just burned hotly. "Oh!"

Perhaps, Lelouch had also caught her line of thinking as well as he turned away hastily... his cheeks also coloured. She smiled before leaning again on his back.

"But I guess that just means that the two of us were destined to meet."

He chuckled.

"Trust you to twist the situation that way. But perhaps, you were right. We were meant to meet each other..."

xxx

The next day.

The moment when all classes ended for the day Rivalz wasted no time racing towards the student council clubhouse to meet up with Milly and Shirley. Yet even as he arrived to see them, it turned out that he didn't have to break the news to them. The two already _knew_ about it.

"Miss President! Do you know anything about this? Why did Princess Cornelia take Nunnally away? Did something happen? Lelouch—Has Lelouch come back yet? If not... he'd be so alarmed to find her gone!" 

Shirley sighed. "Come to think, Kallen... Nina and Suzaku were also absent."

Rivalz just waved the concerns away. "Kallen's most likely at home sick again. And Suzaku... if he's absent he's most likely at work again, dealing with the terrorists. But that leaves Nina unaccounted." He turned towards Milly again. "But honestly, to think that even _Nunnally_ was not around anymore. The council feels even lonelier with just the three of us..."

Milly nodded. "Yes, that's certainly a problem. The student council can't work with just three people in it. I may need to borrow some from the other clubs to make do—" she paused, before turning around to face both Shirley and Rivalz. Her eyes lingered towards Shirley for a moment before sighing.

 _"Perhaps it was for the best that Shirley seemed to have forgotten about her crush on Lelouch",_ thought Milly.

"Anyway, Rivalz. You don't have to worry about Nunna-chan. I'm sure that Lady Cornelia would take care of her well."

"But how would you know about that, President? Do you know something that you never told us before?"

Milly let out a sigh. "I guess, this would be inevitable... sooner or later." She gave them a weak smile. "And I suppose with them taking Nunna-chan away there should be an official announcement about it sometime soon. And I hope when that time comes, you guys won't think of Lelouch and Nunnally any differently than you used to before. I don't want any of you to think they hid the secret from you out of malice or anything..."

Rivalz frowned. "What're you talking about... Miss President?"

Milly took a long breath before letting it out.

"The truth is..."

xxx

Schneizel paid them another visit later in the morning, this time without Suzaku on tow. And surprisingly, Cornelia didn't come along despite the commotion from the previous night.

"What do you want with me again, brother?" 

The older prince just sighed before placing a tray of food on a corner table. He turned around and took note of Kallen's presence beside Lelouch.

"I guess if I try to remove the girl from your side, that you'll start acting violently on us again?" he commented before walking over and released one of the metal restraints that was holding on to Lelouch's wrists to allow him to eat.

Lelouch frowned at him regardless. "As if I'd leave her alone with you people. I'm sure you'd use her or even Nunnally as leverage against me."

Schneizel snickered. "If that were so, Nunnally should be enough for that kind of purpose... shouldn't it?"

"As if **Cornelia** would let you be if you harmed Nunnally."

"You caught me." But then the second prince smiled, "In that case, how about the lives of your subordinates that we captured? Or would you rather sacrifice their lives because of your stubbornness?"

"You cur! How dare you to try using our members as hostages!" Kallen cried out.

"Try it then..." Kallen and Schneizel turned towards Lelouch in response. "As if you're not already facing the wrath of the whole population against you."

Schneizel finally lets out a long sigh. 

"You're still... the worst ever opponent that I could face, my dear Lelouch," he started to say. "Why won't you ever believe that I only wanted to keep you safe?"

"Because I don't. If you think I'd ever drop my guards again and trusted any of you, you'd be gravely mistaken. Don't think that I can't see you sacrificing your own kin for your own personal goals. I'm fully aware of your capabilities. You're after all that person's child."

"And so are you," Schneizel countered as Lelouch flinched.

"I'm... fully aware of that," said Lelouch, before turning away. Kallen silently squeezed Lelouch's hand as he returned the gesture. He turned back to stare squarely at Schneizel again. "It's because I know that I myself am capable of something like that—that I know that you also would have the same capacity. I wouldn't put it past you, since most of the things that I knew... I learnt them all from you,"

Schneizel snickered. "As I've said, you're the worst kind of enemy that I would want to face. And I was hoping to see if we could be allies again,"

"Not a chance," said Lelouch as Schneizel took his leave.

xxx

It was probably some few hours later that Lelouch suddenly thought he heard some odd commotion from outside.

"Check it out," he told Kallen, as one of his hands were still bound to the bed he was on. Kallen nodded as she went to check the door. But as she walked closer, the security locks suddenly exploded as the cell's door opened without warning.

Both of them let out a cry as C.C. walked into the cell by herself, carrying a gun. She took out a small device and hovered it over Kallen's shackles as the shackles came off.

"C.C.!" Lelouch exclaimed as C.C did the same with Lelouch's restraints. He hopped off the bed once his hand was free. "How'd you managed to come here?"

"A bird just told me—" She rolled her eyes at both Kallen and Lelouch as C.C. ushered them out towards the exit. "I went back to find the Knights to see if they picked up any new information and they told me that Kallen hasn't returned after the last raid. And then I found her message about investigating the palace—"

Kallen eyed her incredulously. "And then you also come here by yourself with no backup?" To which she got another eye roll as a reply.

"As if! I had some of the Black Knights create some distractions quite a distance from here at different points so that most of the military forces would be directed elsewhere. And Diethard has spread some false intel all over to make the situation even more confusing. So while everyone's attention was diverted elsewhere, I'd sneak in to find both of you. So if Kallen has been right about you being here, I'd be able to locate both of you. And now we're all here!"

"Whatever... let's just go!" Lelouch hissed as the three of them tried to find their way out.

 

Yet halfway, Lelouch stopped in his tracks as he just remembered something. "Nunnally!" he gasped as he made an about-turn to try to look for her. Kallen stopped him as she grabbed his arm hastily.

"You can't! You'll end up being caught again!"

"But if Nunnally stayed with them, she'll still end up being a hostage! I can't let that happen to her again!"

"But you said Cornelia won't let her be harmed! Even if you don't trust Schneizel, shouldn't you believe in your words? Do you really think that your older sister would be able to harm Nunnally?"

Lelouch bit his lips as he stared straight into Kallen's eyes. True, he said it himself that Cornelia was not the kind of person to hurt the people she cared deeply. And while she had been ruthless in battle, when it comes to family...

"Leave Nunnally to me!" Lelouch turned around to see C.C. smiling confidently at him. 

"I'll find her and get her to safety! Let's split up and meet again later. Ah!" C.C. took out a small transmitter radio from her vest as she handed it to Lelouch. "I almost forgot. Diethard gave me a pair just in case we needed to contact each other. Send word once you're safe. The Black Knights had relocated their hiding place since the last raid so you need to make contact with them in order to regroup."

"We'll do that!" Kallen exclaimed as she dragged Lelouch towards one route as C.C. took the opposite one.

xxx

After what seemed like ages, somehow Kallen and Lelouch managed to find their way towards the palace's courtyard. Both of them paused for a breather as Kallen turned to check on Lelouch.

"You okay?", she asked as Lelouch's nodded. "Are you sure?" Kallen asked again, remembering their earlier attempt on escape as Lelouch repeated his answer.

"I'm fine. I felt much stronger and better than last time... so you don't need to worry about me—" he said as Kallen hastily pulled him aside.

A number of guards suddenly passed by the area before making their way towards the main gates. Some faint sounds of explosions could also be heard from afar.

"We'd better make our way out of here," Lelouch whispered before stepping out to take a closer look at their surroundings. He frowned. The fact that the area quite open and empty made him uneasy. He turned towards Kallen.

"We might need to wing it in order to make our escape. Once they realize we're gone—" Both of them turned, as the alarm suddenly started blaring. Kallen immediately took the lead as she grabbed Lelouch along.

"You don't have to tell me that! And here I was more worried that you would collapse on me again like last time—"

Lelouch was about to give a quick retort to her before suddenly the grounds in front of them suddenly exploded. The two of them backed away as a strange orange-green machine—heck, he wasn't even sure it was actually a Knightmare Frame—came out from the hole in the ground, facing them. He could barely make out a person's silhouette at the top of the machine before realizing that the machine has started to attack them on random. Kallen grabbed his arm as both hastily tried to escape from being targeted by the machine.

As the various monuments around them started to crumble from the giant machine's attack, Lelouch glanced up as another Knightmare frame appeared out of nowhere. It didn't look like Gawain at first glance and he didn't recognize it from any one of the models he'd seen before so he decided that it might not be an ally. But the Knightmare had engaged the other machine so they might as well take this chance to escape.

But then the orange-green machine had crashed against the palace wall near them as Lelouch belatedly realize that Kallen was directly underneath the spot where the shrapnel from the wall was falling.

Without thinking, he cried out a warning towards Kallen and pushed her aside. He felt something big hitting his back, knocking the wind out of his lungs as he fell. Few more pieces of the wall started to fall around them as Lelouch tried to locate Kallen in the cloud of dust.

When something heavy fell and pinned his leg down, Lelouch cried out in pain before blacking out immediately.

xxx

_"Find Nunnally!"_

By all means, she should've continued looking for Lelouch's sister. Just so that Lelouch wouldn't end up making a big fuss on her later for not fulfilling her words when she told them that she'd recover his sister. But when the next few blasts and explosions shook the building too much for comfort, C.C. started having a very bad feeling about things. 

 _"I didn't recall telling the others to attack the palace!"_ she thought anxiously as she turned back.

Between Lelouch and Nunnally, right now the little girl should be on the safer side compared to the other.

When she managed to find her way out of the palace, she was taken by surprise at the amount of damage there was in the area. And somewhere nearby, among the crumbled pieces of cement and pipes, she saw a severely large and damaged Knightmare laid ruined at the corner. Suddenly worried, she took out the second transmitter that she was holding as she tried to contact Lelouch and Kallen.

To her alarm, she heard a faint signal coming from the direction of the palace wall that was damaged greatly. And at the spot where she heard the sound of the other transmitter, she found it lying on the ground. Abandoned.

And neither Kallen or Lelouch was anywhere in sight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rewrote the last chapter so that Lelouch's full explanation about him being a royal prince and being exiled to Japan happen off-chapter. I think that made the chapter flowed better, to be honest.
> 
> That aside, I just realized that I had Lulu running around half-blind. Oh well... that might just account as to why he miscalculates his directions etc.


	9. Homecoming

The next time he regained consciousness, it felt as if it has been ages since he was awake. Even then he realized yet more things had changed since the last time he remembered waking up in this same kind of setting.

The last thing he could recall in his memory, was him and Kallen trying to escape from the detention cell before encountering a strange Knightmare Frame that tried to kill them. And after that... he's not sure what had happened. Did they manage to escape? Or had they been recaptured?

There were soft pillows underneath his head now, he noticed. Much softer than the ones he recalled being given to him at the cell. And the mattress he was lying on? Even without him moving his arms around, he could still tell that it was much more comfortable and bigger than the ones at the cell. And the fact that he was lying on one... must mean that he was no longer detained at that small cell room—like who on earth would do that anyway? That won't make any sort of sense! What prisoner would end up getting so many special treatments like this?

He could also feel... a soft comforter covering his body. For some reason, there was something oddly familiar about this setting he was in, yet for the life of him, Lelouch couldn't place it.

_As if it was from a long forgotten memory..._

But that aside, Lelouch came to realize a much more troubling issue to be concerned about.

_"Why... was everything around him so dark?"_

xxx

Kallen woke up to find him beginning to stir. And as usual, for the last two months or so... she watched him with bated breath to see if this time he would finally wake up for sure. Ever since the two of them had arrived in this place, she has been waiting to tell him everything that happened since that time at the Viceroy's Palace. Every day... she kept trying to compose her words, wondering how she should break the news to him. Since the knowledge might alarm him a bit... or a lot, depending on the situation.

It took a while for her to realise that the person was staring at her blankly before crying out in surprise. Seeing that Lelouch has finally woke up made her happy. Yet that happiness was cut short when he told her that he couldn't see anything from his eyes.

Kallen wasted no time to call on their only _guardian_ , who then made the preparation to summon a physician over to check on Lelouch.

xxx

The old physician let out a grunt before walking out of the room, followed by Kallen and the guardian that Kallen had called from before. The old man turned around to face them as other man closed the bedroom door behind them.

"It's a temporary condition," the physician started to say. "I was told before that the prince has had a head injury before this, am I right?"

Kallen nodded quickly. "Yes, but before... he was still fine—"

"The symptoms might not have shown yet at that time... and the prince had received a few more injuries afterwards, so it might have just accumulated while he's been in bed all these times."

Kallen blinked as she started to recall something. "Come to think, back in Japan... there were a few times when Lelouch had said that his head had started to hurt. And a few times, his nose bleed a bit... but Lelouch insisted that he was fine,"

The old man nodded. "I'll prescribe some medication for him to ease the condition. And perhaps his sight would return after a while. Try to keep him calm and don't put him under too much stress for the time being."

Kallen nodded again as the other man finally spoke. "That aside, please remember to keep everything you've seen or heard in this place a secret."

The old man stared at the other man incredulously. "Who do you think I am, Sir? I've served the royal family as a Royal Physician for as long as you could even remember! Do you think I would not treat this situation similar to my other charges?"

"I'm sorry..." Kallen turned to see the man bowing apologetically. "It was my error in judgement to doubt you. Please accept my token of apologies as I escort you back out."

The old physician let out another grunt as Kallen went back inside the bedroom to see Lelouch. Leaving everything else to their guardian.

 

Inside, Lelouch had his attention up as he heard Kallen coming back for him.

"How is it?" he asked as Kallen let out a sigh.

"The doctor said that it's a temporary condition. After a while, you should be able to regain your sight once you've rested enough."

"Oh, really...?"

"Come to think... your left eye didn't glow with the Geass for a while now."

That perked his attention as Lelouch sighed. "Perhaps that should be a good thing. That way, I wouldn't end up accidentally Geass-ing anyone else besides you."

Kallen shrugged. "I guess so. Though I don't think we really need to worry about that now."

Lelouch turned his head towards her. "Why's that?" he asked.

"Because _Orenji-san_ —I mean, Jeremiah... has a Geass Canceller. So if there's anyone that you accidentally... give a command to, he'll be able to undo it."

That made him sigh again. And she couldn't help noticing that Lelouch's expression has become even sadder.

"If I've known that there's someone with that kind of ability before—perhaps Euphie... perhaps I didn't have to have to kill her. Euphie would still—" But then Lelouch started to realize something before turning towards Kallen again. "Orange? That guy... why that person suddenly—? Was he the one on that strange Knightmare? So I don't understand... why he's now—?"

"It's a long story."

Kallen started to explain how... when the side of the Viceroy's Palace's inner wall collapsed on them during their escape, Lelouch was knocked out while trying to protect her. Somehow during that commotion, Jeremiah's Knightmare was crashed and he came out to look for them to kill them off. When she came to shortly after, the sight of the half-mechanical man looking down at them was unnerving. The looks of the maddened man scared her for a while yet—the man suddenly took a closer look at Lelouch's unconscious form and froze suddenly. The man started screaming... and she thought for sure they were goners.

But then it seemed afterwards the man suddenly did not look so crazy and started kneeling beside Lelouch—and he cried. He started wailing and cradling Lelouch's unconscious body as if mourning his own child. While repeating things like he had failed his master again on and on as if forgotten that for a moment earlier the man was trying to kill Lelouch for being Zero.

And then afterwards, a girl in a Britannian knight uniform suddenly appeared and ordered Jeremiah and Kallen to follow her if they wanted to save Lelouch.

"And that's... how we ended up here," Kallen concluded her tale.

"Oh."

It was a bit uncharacteristic for Lelouch to react with only that after her long explanation, but she could understand it. Even to herself, she found it a bit ridiculous when she recalled it back.

"And err..." Kallen turned back towards Lelouch as the young prince gave him a helpless look. "I can't seem to be able to move my right leg,"

"Oh!" It's Kallen's turn to gasp at his statement. "That... you broke it when you ran over to save me from the falling cement shards."

Lelouch's eyes widened as if he couldn't believe himself that he did something like that. Kallen smiled. At what seemed like a few minutes in silence, Lelouch spoke again.

"That aside, I want to know... where exactly are we at, right now?"

Kallen bit her lips. _This was it, the moment that she's been dreading for a while..._

"We're no longer in Japan right now. This place—"

"Don't tell me—!"

"...it's the **Aries Imperial Villa**." Both of them spoke out, almost at the same time. "How did you know?" Kallen asked as she regained her composure. Lelouch let out a long sigh.

"It's because this room... was my old bedroom. Back when I used to live here with Nunnally and my mother."

xxx

He took it a lot more calmly than she expected but at least Lelouch didn't end up reacting so emotionally the way he did at the Viceroy's Palace. But then again, perhaps it was because all of his emotions were already drained out.

Kallen ran a hand over his cheeks as Lelouch accepted the gesture gratefully. Even if he hadn't said it out loud, it must've been hard on him. To wake up not being able to see anything, as well as being hurt. To top it off, to come back to the home where he used to live in before being exiled. She couldn't think up any word to try to comfort him.

An unexpected sound erupted as Lelouch looked away. Kallen grinned.

"I guess... that's to be expected. It's been a while anyway since you had any proper food."

Lelouch gave her a sheepish look as she laughed again. It felt strangely good this time to be the one doing the teasing. And Lelouch's blushing face—as always, was charmingly adorable.

A sudden creak of the door made the two of them turned their attention towards the sound as Kallen noticed a girl with a pink hair entered the room.

"Jeremiah has prepared late breakfast. Come down," she said as Kallen continued puzzling over her.

Again, her mannerism was different compared to the time when she appeared at the Viceroy's Palace to offer her assistance to save Lelouch. And she made similar observations in the past during the time she and Lelouch were staying here. The girl, Anya... seemed to have _two_ personalities, and Kallen wondered how did the girl manage to become one of the Knights of Rounds despite that. And she wondered if she would ever find out.

"Kallen?"

Kallen blinked, before turning her attention towards Lelouch. "Oh! Right..." she gasped before hurrying over towards the other side of the bed, helping him get off the bed. "Should I look to see if there's a wheelchair or something here?"

"It's fine..." Lelouch said, perhaps noticing her concerns. "I don't think you'd find it any harder to help me walk out of this room as compared to when we were trying to make our escape before."

True. She always knew that Lelouch had been skinnier than most boys their age but even she was surprised at how light he really was before.

"Right..." said Kallen. For once, she was glad that Lelouch wasn't able to see how red her face had turned by now. After everything that happened to them for the past months, was it so surprising that she became even more self-conscious around his presence?

But it turned out, she didn't really have to worry too much. As within minutes after she managed to get Lelouch on his feet, Jeremiah stormed in and wordlessly carried Lelouch in his arms before Lelouch could start to voice any protest. But after a while, as she followed them towards the villa's dining hall... Lelouch gave up protesting when he realised that the efforts were futile.

Seeing that made her think, perhaps it was true about what Jeremiah told her before. Regarding him having served at this villa when Lelouch was still young. Which explain his concerns when he saw Lelouch getting hurt before.

xxx

It was sunny today, she said. So they might as well take this chance to check out the aerial gardens.

What for, he asked back. Not that he could see the view in his current predicament. Not that he even wanted to, if he could. Either way, coming over there would just bring back bad memories... of an illusion of a peaceful and happy life that he used to live. When his mother, Clovis and Euphie were still alive. A time when Schneizel was still a figure in his life that he could place his trust. A time when he thought he had a father who loved and treasured him and Nunnally as his children. That time when his father... was not a traumatic monolithic figure that haunted his dreams.

He still ended up being dragged to the garden regardless. If it wasn't from the constant badgering Kallen had given him, Jeremiah's poking him from behind gave him no choice but to acquiesce to their demands. He still couldn't believe it though, that Jeremiah used to be one of the royal guards that used to serve at this place to protect it. But then again, it was not as if he remembered every single face of the royal guards that used to work here before. But Jeremiah had described many things from his childhood accurately, and some of those details couldn't have been known by outsiders—

Come to think, that time when he and Nunnally were about to be sent away to Japan... he thought he recalled one lone guard crying pathetically at one corner. Could that be—nah, it couldn't be! 

Back then, none of the remaining royal guards who used to serve in Aries was brought along to watch over them during their exile. The bodyguards that they got instead, were people that he didn't even know from which division they came from. Even the ones that served under Cornelia were much friendlier...

_Perhaps that was why that lone guard was crying at that time... because he couldn't follow them to Japan._

The wind that suddenly blew brought Lelouch back to the present. Kallen told him earlier that they've been here for about two months, so it should be somewhere in the middle of December. So it should be winter time now, yet you do get these occasional sunny periods in between. So it wasn't too hot... and not too cold either. And the winds were pleasant.

"So how is it? You're feeling better?" Kallen spoke suddenly as Lelouch shrugged at her.

"I guess it's fine..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Taking the two back to Pendragon was a new idea that I thought up when I decided to revive this piece. But I can no longer remember why... I just want him back in Aries. Well, that aside... some of the later chapters I have planned out would still have some refs from R2 plots—I still read up summaries/wikis and watched clips of them even while I'm still reluctant to finish marathon the last half of R2—but for the most part, things would've happened differently in this fic.
> 
> Not sure if I'm gonna add the events in China or Euro-Britannia at this point, but I'll leave that thinking for later.


	10. The Sword of Akasha

After a few days passed he thought that it would be right to ask Kallen about their current situation. Once he stopped being fussed on by either Kallen or Jeremiah... or that old physician, Dr. Ainsley, who first visited him two days earlier. And strangely enough, despite what Kallen told him about the girl named Anya's involvement in saving his life—for the lack of other words to describe it—as well as the reason on why they ended up returning to Pendragon, the girl has not concerned herself with him at all for the past few days. Which was an odd thing... and made him wonder about Anya's true motivations. Considering that the girl was—as Kallen informed him beforehand—the Knight of Six, which also happened to be the same old title that his mother once held.

So right after a late breakfast... and once they're back in his room, he asked her the question. Since he wasn't able to figure it out himself.

If this was one of Schneizel's ploy... his older brother would've come to see him again once he woke up. If it was someone else—and god forbid, his father himself!—said person should've made their presence known to them by this time. But besides the two people—Jeremiah and Anya—no one else had appeared to make contact with him and he found that uncanny. It was unlikely there would be anyone in Britannia who would be sympathizing with him or the Black Knights to warrant them to go the lengths to save him. Much less hid him in this villa—even if the villa itself appeared to be left abandoned after all these years.

And that itself added to the strangeness of their situation. They were told that the villa had been closed ever since the time he and Nunnally were sent to Japan. Yet the villa itself, and everything inside—the amenities, furniture... everything—had been well maintained, as Kallen herself confirmed it. As if it had been waiting for this very moment for his—or anyone else's—return to reoccupy this place. But that didn't make any sense! Why would anyone do that?

He told Kallen all of his thoughts on this matter, and she herself was not able to provide any answer to the questions. Despite the fact that she had two months to try to find out the details while he had continued sleeping, Kallen explained that regardless of how much she'd tried to find out the true nature of their circumstances... she was never given a straight answer. Definitely not from Jeremiah since he wasn't the one in charge. The man had happily resumed his duties of 'protecting' them as if it was the most natural thing for him to do... and Anya—ever since that night when she first appeared, her other _personality_... the one that gave the command to Jeremiah to take the two of them to Britannia never appeared again. Or at least whenever Kallen was awake to notice anything about her.

There was a silver lining though. While she wasn't able to find out anything regarding their own situation, she managed to find out bits and pieces of what happened in Japan. It wasn't quite an easy feat regardless. Every time she wanted to try to take the newspaper that Jeremiah had left behind after he finished reading them, she had to pretend that she was much more interested with the tabloid side of the news columns rather than the more serious ones. Despite his current mannerism nowadays, Jeremiah was still sensitive over any hints or signs when she had shown concerns over the Black Knight's activities. And he was very adamant in making sure she wouldn't try to secretly escape with Lelouch back to Japan in order to reassume their Black Knight's roles.

"So what did you found out?" Lelouch started to say as Kallen glanced around, making sure that no one else was listening.

"Not much," she said, before letting out a sigh. "The Black Knights were still out and about, I guess... but there were some significant losses."

She glanced up to see his worried face before continuing, "Ohgi was detained in an operation last month, Tamaki was caught a few weeks before that but that's probably over some stupid reasons. It doesn't sound as if Ikaruga's been captured..." Kallen bit her lips before continuing. "The people in Kyoto... the news about them that I could get hadn't mentioned it in detail, but a few of the senior leaders had been captured. Kirihara-san... had been one of those in Kyoto who has been executed."

Lelouch barely showed her any reaction, but she could tell that in some way that he was taken aback by the news. She used to wonder what was the relationship Kirihara-san had with Lelouch, but now that she was aware of Lelouch's secrets... she assumed that Kirihara must have been amongst the few who had been aware of Lelouch's true identity.

She paused for a moment, hesitating if she should tell him anything more as Lelouch urged her to continue. Kallen heaved another long sigh.

"Suzaku was made the Knight of Seven by Prince Schneizel. And uhm, Nunnally... was now currently the Viceroy for Area 11, but it's mostly Schneizel who was doing the administration work behind the scenes," she said quickly, as Kallen noticed him clenching his hands after hearing that bit.

"Schneizel—" she hesitated, "—didn't release anything else about you... or us. I tried to look for any mentions of any news regarding that night but I found nothing save one. Which mentioned that a freak storm hit the palace area at that time and caused some substantial damage to the area. But aside from that, there were no more articles about Zero or the fact that _you're_ Zero or anything of the likes."

"Because doing so had no use to him." Lelouch sighed. "Back then, that piece of information was a useful trump card that he could have used against me. But with me gone—"

He frowned. "Now I'm just wondering why on earth were we being taken here. Was there some hidden motive—because that's the only reason why I'd think anyone would do us a favour by sheltering us here in secret..."

"Were you curious?" Both of them froze as Kallen glanced around towards the new voice that just spoke. And to no surprise, it was Anya. And for once, Kallen noticed for the first time that Anya's eyes this time had a ring of bright red glow encircling each iris.

xxx

Kallen frowned at the girl. Again, this time the girl was back in the same personality as when she first made her appearance. By instinct, she held her arms in front of Lelouch... pulling him to her side as she eyed Anya warily.

Anya just smiled. "I'm impressed, my dear Lelouch. I thought only C.C. would go all out to protect you like this. But I guess, girls were just drawn to you, isn't it? You're just like your father, how charming..."

"What the hell you're saying?" Both of them cried out almost at the same time as their faces turned red; Kallen, out of embarrassment and Lelouch, out of anger. 

"Don't lump me the same as that person!" exclaimed Lelouch, furious. "Anyway, who are you exactly?"

The girl just sighed. "I was hoping to introduce myself to you in a better setting, my dear. But oh well..."

Anya climbed onto the bed as well and crawled over to their side. Kallen continued to hold Lelouch's arm protectively as Anya approached them. The girl cocked her head towards them.

"Don't let this body fool you, my dears... I'm only borrowing her for a while," Anya said again before turning her attention towards Lelouch. "Don't you recognize me from the way I speak, dear? My beloved son..."

"W-what... what nonsense are you talking about?" Kallen exclaimed, before turning to Lelouch looking aghast. "Lelouch! Don't tell me you believed her on this crap!"

She glanced back at the girl. "What're you trying to pull—?"

xxx

"This is me, Lelouch. It's me... Marianne, your _mother_..."

Kallen continued to tell him to not believe in this person's words and he did feel inclined to trust her on that, yet...

A part of him couldn't help feeling that the girl was telling him the truth. In which the statement itself didn't make any sense! His mother, Marianne vi Britannia... was long dead. He knew that all too well. He had seen her dead body with his own eyes! 

Yet, why did this person... why did this girl—who sounded as if she was around their own age—claimed to be his long-dead mother? And why did a part of him... wanted to believe in those words? Lelouch forced himself to shake his head.

"No! You can't be—!"

He could hear the girl sigh.

"I guess, this was the only way to make you believe me..."

"What're you doing—?" Kallen suddenly cried out as she grabbed his arm... almost at the same time as another hand grabbed his.

The next moment he realized, they were standing in a place filled with light. And he could see again. Kallen was beside him... and there was another girl standing in front of him that he never met before. The girl now was smiling at him the way his mother used to smile at him.

"If I show you this... would you believe me?" she spoke again before taking a step backwards. Suddenly the girl's form started to change... gradually into someone that he never thought he would see again.

Lelouch gasped, as he stared at the person that now appeared before him. Someone... he never thought he could see again.

"Mother?"

xxx

Almost as soon as the girl 'Anya' made the surprising revelation, the three of them were back in Lelouch's bedroom again. Kallen blinked.

"What... what was that just now?" she cried out as 'Anya' shrugged.

"Just a demonstration..."

Kallen continued to eye the girl warily but then started to turn her attention towards Lelouch when she noticed he began to look even more troubled. 'Anya' placed a hand on Lelouch's cheek.

"I know that this seemed a bit too sudden, but I'd like to take you someplace to show you something."

That sentence made her feel wary again as Kallen gripped Lelouch's arm tightly.

"I'm not going to let you take Lelouch to some strange places—"

The girl just turned her attention towards her, "Then why don't you just come along with us. Since I bet he wouldn't want to leave you alone here either," she said again matter-of-factly as Kallen was taken off guard.

'Anya' then proceeded to go out and told her to get Lelouch and herself ready while she went out to find Jeremiah to fetch them. All the while, Kallen still didn't understand what's going on around her.

xxx

It was almost in the late evening when they arrived at the location. They were taken to the Pendragon Palace, as Anya told Jeremiah to wait by himself... before telling Lelouch and Kallen to follow her by foot. She led them down into some secret passage that led to some underground ruins that seemed to have been around for a very long time. They continued walking before reaching a wall (or a large door?). Kallen looked up and noticed a familiar symbol etched on the old stones. For some reason, the symbol looked slightly similar to the one that Lelouch had used for the Black Knights. As well as the one they saw on the ruins in Kaminejima back in Japan before.  
  
_"Was this place, related to the power that Lelouch had?"_ , she wondered. She could have asked Lelouch about it, but he's not exactly in any position to know.  
  
Anya started tinkering with some kind of machinery as the symbols on the platform and the gate in front of them started to glow brightly.   
  
When she opened her eyes again, Kallen found herself again in a room filled with bright lights. And it appeared that they were surrounded by multiple portraits of different people and scenery as Kallen started to wonder about their significance. She walked closer to one portrait and to her surprise it showed a scene from her memory, yet she didn't remember it ever being photographed.  
  
She heard Lelouch gasped behind her, and turned to find him standing before a family portrait. Upon closer inspection, she realized that it was a portrait of Lelouch and Nunnally, alongside their mother... in a beautiful garden. A garden from Aries, in fact.  
  
"What's the meaning of this?" Lelouch started to say, as Kallen realised that Lelouch was able to see with his eyes at this place.  
  
"We're in the World of C, where all consciousness is gathered." Both of them turned around to see Lelouch's mother standing before them. "And the reason why I can appear as my true form here, as well as the reason why you were able to regain your sight for now."  
  
"Why are you taking us here?" Lelouch asked as he continued, "—what was it that you wanted to show me?"  
  
"Follow me."  
  
Thus the two of them followed the woman until they arrived at a place where another person was standing alone. Lelouch tensed as both of them recognized the person immediately.  
  
The man gave them a brief glance before turning away, disinterested.  
  
"Marianne... why did you bring them here?"  
  
"I thought perhaps we should tell the truth to our son. About the plan,"  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Charles—dear, are you still going to continue with the pretence? Our beloved Lelouch had been gravely hurt for some time and I know that you've been worrying too..."  
  
The man didn't respond as Lelouch gritted his teeth. "What nonsense are you trying to pull. I have no care to believe—!"  
  
"Charles! Don't you think it would be better for him to know the truth? If he did, surely he'd be able to understand..."  
  
"Was that the reason that you let go of the chance to recover C.C. in favour of him?"  
  
"What? Was this all because of C.C.—?" Lelouch started to say before Marianne cut him off.  
  
"It's because Lelouch was hurt. Didn't we agree that we'd listen to both Nunnally and Lelouch's opinions before continuing?"

"Knowing Nunnally's thoughts about it should be enough..."  
  
"My love!"  
  
xxx

Lelouch frowned as his father turned around to face him. Yet for some reason, the aged man felt to him like a stranger—no, it was more like... the Emperor Charles zi Britannia that stood before him had been a different person than the last time he remembered him. Or seen in broadcasts.

Or better put, this Charles seemed to have a lot more emotion that the one he was used to seeing. At least, the one he knew didn't usually have this sad expression on his face. Why would he be sad anyway? He no longer remembered a time when the man had last shown any expressions to show that he actually cares about anything in this world. Much less his own children!

And then his father finally spoke. He started by telling Lelouch how in his younger years Britannia had always been at war as royalties fought against each other in a bid to claim the throne. And Charles, alongside his brother V.V., had witnessed so much blood and carnage and destruction as humanity succumb to their greed. From that moment, they had promised to not keep lies to each other and be truthful. While they made plans to create a 'kind and gentle' world. In which his father began to explain the nature of the place they were in—the World of C—and what it meant for them. His father also talked about the purpose of the thought elevators, the Plan... and ultimately, the purpose of the Sword of Akasha.

To which Lelouch found everything to be just a pile of bullshit!

xxx

Lelouch couldn't hide his disbelief at what he just heard. But before voicing out his thoughts, he turned to face his mother.   
  
"Before anything, mother... what actually happened to you?" he asked.  
  
Marianne smiled at him weakly. She started explaining that on that fateful night, she told Cornelia to dismiss all of the royal guards from duty. Since it was requested by V.V. who wanted to have a word with her in private. But it turned out that V.V. was planning to kill her because he thought that Charles' attachment to her was taking his focus away from fulfilling their plan. And just around that time, two royal guards had come down towards their meeting place. When she dropped her guards on V.V. and tried to warn the two to leave, V.V. took that chance to shoot them all. At that time, little Anya who has been sent to the villa to learn some etiquette witnessed the incident. In her last moment, Marianne had activated her Geass for the first time and her soul hid inside of Anya's body.

Charles picked up the narrative and continued explaining that afterwards he had asked his twin brother about it but V.V. denied any knowledge of it. That made him mad since the two have made a promise to not lie to each other and his brother just shamelessly lied to him. And he also used Nunnally as a fake witness to make people believe that the murder was done by some elusive terrorists. He then proceeded to alter Anya and Nunnally's memories of the incident and sent Lelouch and Nunnally to Japan in order to protect them from V.V. under the guise of making them into political hostages.  
  
At that last line, Lelouch immediately broke his silence.  
  
"That's nonsense! How could you claim that you were protecting us? You didn't even show us that you cared about us at all after the incident! You didn't even look for us after the war! And you called Nunnally a weakling that's not worth caring back then! You told me that I was DEAD! Don't you dare say that you did all of this to protect Nunnally and me!"

"Lelouch! " Marianne interjected. "You father really do c—"  
  
"And what's this about creating a kind and gentle world by killing the 'gods' and uniting everyone inside the collective consciousness? What kind of world would that be? That's just a stagnant world! That not the kind of world that Euphie... Nunnally or anyone else would've wanted! "  
  
"If you wanted to create a kind and gentle world, you should start by becoming kind yourself! If you wanted to create a more truthful world, you should've started by becoming truthful yourself! When you do that everyone would've tried to follow suit. Then everyone would've started to change—"  
  
"That's just feeble words that the weak used to—"  
  
"DON'T YOU TRY TO THROW YOUR SOCIAL DARWINISM BELIEF HERE!" Lelouch screamed as his legs suddenly gave out from underneath him. Kallen hastily caught him mid-fall as they laid sprawled spread-legged on the ground. "How could you claim to want to create a kind and gentle world when your actions promoted the opposite? How could you claim to want to protect when all you did was oppress the ones you wanted to protect?"  
  
"This idiot! Don't you realize that we did this for you—?"  
  
"Don't you dare say that to me. In the end, all you ever did was abandon us!" Lelouch raised his voice angrily as he shouted towards his father. "How could you claim to know what 'kind and gentle' world would be like? You're just gonna create a world that's only kind to you alone! That's not a world that is truly kind and gentle!"

Lelouch wiped his tear-stricken face as he confronted his father. "Do you even realize what Nunnally's smile meant? She lost her sight and mobility from such an early age. Her smile was the only way for her to show kindness!", he screamed as Marianne let out a small gasp.  
  
"Such a trivial thi—"

Marianne suddenly lifted a hand to stop her husband before kneeling beside Lelouch and Kallen.

"I'm sorry, my dear. You're right, Lelouch. Your father and I were very mistaken about our beliefs. I'm sorry that all these times we've been hiding this truth from both of you. I'm sorry to make you believe that all these times we've been abandoning you. We didn't mean to make you think that way! We should've been more honest to you and Nunnally from the very beginning. "  
  
She tried to give Lelouch a hug but he quickly pushed her hands away. Only when Marianne acted more firmly and begged that Lelouch didn't refuse her that he relented and allowed his mother to embrace him finally. As Marianne held her son tightly in her arms, she let out a long sigh.  
  
"I wonder... if I've forgotten those beliefs after so long."  
  
Lelouch glanced up towards her. His mother seemed to be deep in thought.  
  
"Had I... lost my mind when V.V. killed me? That I could no longer see clearly of what's in front of me?"  
  
"Marianne..."

Marianne turned around and glanced up towards her husband.  
  
"Charles... did we, lose our way again without realizing? Will this plan truly bring out a kind world that we wished for? Or were we just being conceited?"

Kallen glanced up towards Charles as the man appeared conflicted.  
  
"Then Lelouch... what would be the better answer that you could think of in your mind? How would you stop humanity's thirst for war? Aside from forcing them all into a collected consciousness or put them in line by a ruling based on fear... what other ways would you pursue in order to bring about a gentler world?"

Lelouch turned his eyes towards his father as he spoke clearly.  
  
"One was an existence that clings to the past, another was rooted to the present. How could either of that be a better choice? I wanted a better future. It's what Nunnally, Euphie... Kallen and anyone else sane enough would've wished for!"  
  
Charles frowned at him. "Then how are you going to grasp that future?"  
  
"I don't know!" he cried out, pulling away from his mother's embrace. "But still, I wanted a future! It's how I managed to keep surviving. It's because there's still the future! That's why even if I'm not sure what was it I'm supposed to do... I'll still try to reach for the future! Any other world that didn't consider the future, I will definitely reject it!"  
  
Lelouch hung his head low, as he spoke out in a voice that could barely be heard by anyone. "I'll strive for that future, no matter how difficult pursuing that path could be. Even if I have to sacrifice myself..."

Marianne immediately turned her attention towards him as she barely caught what he just said under his breath. Charles continued frowning at him before he too dropped to his knee and held out a hand to lift Lelouch's face so that he would face him.  
  
"Very well. Then go find that answer."  
  
Lelouch let out a gasp as Charles gave him a grim smile. Was this really the father he had been opposing all these times?  
  
"When you found it, prove to me that your answer was the better one. Show me that your way was the better one and Ragnarok Connection—this Sword of Akasha—will lose its intended purpose."

xxx

Kallen felt as if she has just witnessed something big. No, something incredibly enormous that she couldn't have even imagined even if she tried. To think that she first started on this path only for the sole purpose of liberating her homeland—the country from where she was born from the clutches of tyranny.

But now, it was as if they're holding the fate of the world in their hands!

"Kallen... wasn't it?" Kallen started to blink as she turned to face Marianne, Lelouch's mother.

"Would you mind taking my son back by yourself? I still have something that I needed to do here..." said the lady as she quickly accepted the request.

xxx

When they returned to Aries Imperial Villa, she immediately took Lelouch to his bedroom. But even then, it didn't seem as if Lelouch has got better ever since they left the place that they went to earlier.

"Kallen. What... should I do know?"

Kallen turned to face Lelouch, who was also sitting on the bed beside her. Looking as dejected as he had been earlier, but this time... a different kind of concern plagued his thoughts.

"Earlier, I spoke... almost boastfully that I'll find a better way. A different path that I could pursue in order to create a kind and gentle world for Nunnally. Yet, as it stands now... what kind of action should I take? What kind of power should I use? What kind of—"

Kallen placed a finger on Lelouch's lips, effectively stopping him from uttering any more words. The action itself took her by surprise but listening to Lelouch continuing to beat himself up, she just didn't like it. 

She really didn't like it. It wasn't the Zero—the Lelouch—that she had grown to respect and admired. The Zero that she used to know had been so confident, so charismatic... to whom she could leave her doubts aside and serve with all her hearts. The Lelouch... Lamperouge that she used to know, despite all of the teasings that he used to give her, she could tell that he was a kind soul. And brave... to have still overcome all obstacles that he been burdened with despite being a discarded royalty and kept on surviving. Lelouch Lamperouge... who, for the sake of his sister had silently taken all the burdens by himself, and strive his best to change the world to become a better place for her.

Both Zero and Lelouch Lamperouge were some pieces that made up Lelouch vi Britannia. They were a glimpse of what—who Lelouch vi Britannia had been and more.

So for that same Lelouch... to be so lost right now, she could not accept this side of him at all!

xxx

"Why... did you tend to put yourself down so much?"

Lelouch felt his heart skip a beat. Either it was due to Kallen's finger still being placed on his lips or the way she spoke, but he could feel a tingle inside his heart. Or perhaps it was also because he couldn't see her with his eyes at the moment and could only rely on her voice to know where she was... that he became overly aware of himself. He turned his face away as his cheeks started to become warm.

But now that he thought about it, Kallen was right. He did tend to put himself down too much whenever he felt that the situation around him had started to become too overwhelming.

_Yet, how else should he feel?_

It would have been better if his father remained a figure to be hated and someone that he must defeat at all cost. It would have been better if his father remained to be part of his worst nightmare that he needed to banish from this world. It would've been better if he didn't have to see that the person that he used to resent so much, turn back into someone that he used to deeply respect and depend on. 

As if finding out the truth about what truly happened to his mother was not shocking enough...

_So what should he do now?_

Rather than Japan, he was back in Pendragon—his real homeland—right now. After so long. His former heritage aside, he was no longer sure what power he still has. If the physician that visited him a few days ago was correct, once his eyes regained its light... he should—might be able to regain the use of his Geass powers. And even that Geass... may still be unstable. But besides that, what else?

The Black Knights? Would he still have them fighting alongside him once he returned to Japan? Kallen aside, he was not too sure about the rest. Barring C.C... and of course, Sayoko. How loyal would they still be to him if Schneizel decides to reveal his true identity to them? If they found out the truth about what happened to Euphie... as well as his power? Would his Black Knights support him still?

During the time he and Kallen disappeared without a trace, there weren't any reports released regarding them in the news. And despite the fact that Schneizel has found out about his identity as Zero—due to the incident that happened after—his brother ended up not being able to use that information to his advantage. But if he and Kallen return to Japan right now—there was no doubt that Schneizel would use that information against him. Also... Schneizel still had Nunnally under his control. As long as Nunnally remained in Japan as Area 11's Viceroy, under Schneizel's control... he couldn't—!

"You're thinking about a lot of stuff inside that head of yours again... huh? Was that why you end up stressing yourself too much?"

Lelouch blinked. For a moment, he forgot that Kallen was still around...

Kallen spoke to him again—but before he could comprehend what she was talking about, Lelouch felt a pair of lips suddenly pressing onto his own. 

"Kalle—!" he cried out before Kallen shushed him again, deepening the kiss.

It was an odd sensation. Kallen's lips were so soft... and _warm_. And for some reason, he could feel her warmth spreads to—not only his lips but to every last inch of his body. It was different from when he kissed Shirley, though back then... the only thing he could recall was the rain and Shirley's sorrow and his guilt. Yet right now...

It felt so intimate, yet a part of him felt that it was improper for both of them to do this at this time. Still, he closed his unseeing eyes and let her venture further. Her lips left his own before he felt her lips kissing his cheeks, his ear... before returning to claim his lips once again. The sensations he felt from her touch caused him to let out sounds that he never thought he'd make in his lifetime. Kallen's kisses... while it seemed so sudden considering that she was the one who first initiated it—it was also so gentle. Lelouch tried to return the favour by kissing her back—and Kallen let out a surprised gasp that sounded like music to his ears. 

He shouldn't be doing something like this at this time. Yet, another voice started telling him to just set the concerns aside and forget everything else for a while.

For a second he's forgotten that he had only his frail arms supporting his back as he braced himself to receive Kallen's affection for him. So when he tried to reach out towards her with one arm, the other couldn't support their combined weight and lead both of them to fall flat on the bed in a tangle of limbs.  
  
Their heads almost clashed as they fell at the same time.  
  
xxx  
  
Kallen blinked dumbly as she stared down towards the person below him. Somehow, their positioning... turned into something quite scandalous. She was now on top of him, her hips just barely straddling his. Her arms were holding onto his on both sides, their chests barely touching. And Lelouch's face... if she'd just lower her face even just for a little bit, she could've easily touched him... nose to nose.   
  
Lelouch's face was flushed red now. Either it was from her earlier kisses, or the fact that they were so entangled like this... it was not hard for her to see how much he was so affected by their close proximity. Somehow seeing him like this, made her feel a bit guilty. He was always so frail, so having him pinned like this made her feel too much like a predator eyeing its prey.

She was about to pull away from him as his hands stopped her from making a move. Lelouch shook his head as his eyes stared blankly towards her.   
  
"No, don't go. Please don't leave..."

Somehow, the way Lelouch said those lines tugged onto her heart. "Lelouch, I would never—"

Without thinking she had leaned over to plant a kiss on one of Lelouch's eyes when those very eyes had become teary. And almost at the same time, she felt Lelouch's arms wrapped around her... not allowing her to leave.

"Silly, how could I ever leave your side..." she whispered before returning the embrace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I revised a bit of the end part, cos I get self-conscious over the bit on Lulu-Kallen there hahaha. Which means the next chapter (and the related scenes) will also getting a slight revision. Since the teeny bit was supposed to be innocent. ~~Also cos I change my mind about how far I wanted Lulu-Kallen to progress for the moment.~~


	11. Sand Dream

Kallen woke up a few hours later, slightly puzzled that she was lying on a  _bed_... instead of at the bedside or even the sofa. She turned her face to her side and saw the person sleeping beside her... topless underneath the comforter. She blushed as she immediately recalled the things that happened prior.  
  
It started with an innocent kiss. Because she wanted to do something for Lelouch. To comfort him, to ease the pain he seemed to be carrying inside his heart.  
  
But then a kiss, suddenly become two. And then three kisses. And then four. With every subsequent kisses she gave him, the kisses grew deeper and lingered longer. And just as she wanted to stop, since it felt as if she's pushing herself against Lelouch—he begged her to not leave, not to stop. Because of that, Kallen didn't leave.

Regardless, both of them were still teenagers. And being in that close proximity with each other, it'd be a lie if she said that neither of them had any perverse thoughts.   
  
Kallen sat up, her undergarment hung loosely over her chest. She felt her cheeks growing warm.  
  
In the end, the two of them didn't really do anything much. Besides taking their tops off, since the room started to feel so warm. Kallen turned to her side again to watch Lelouch sleep.  
  
A thought suddenly occurred to her that this was the first time she saw Lelouch sleeping so calmly. Since before, whenever Lelouch was asleep she couldn't help noticing that his expression seemed to be either in pain or sorrowful. As if Lelouch was constantly having a sad dream... or an awful nightmare. She couldn't help feeling sad for him.

Kallen thought of the outburst Lelouch let out to his parents, back at the World of C. That was also another first for her. To see Lelouch in so much hurt. As if she hadn't seen him suffer enough.  
  
In the past, she always thought that Lelouch was just like any other privileged student she met in Ashford. Having first saw him being surrounded by female students who fancied him, acting nonchalant in class and barely bothered about his studies; she could never imagine him ever living in hardship at any point of his life. And since he always acted so arrogant, she always sees him as a kind of a jerk. But then, he occasionally revealed his kindness to her in unexpected way; in trying to help a Japanese peddler who had been bullied by Britannian youths, and then by offering to help her get her real mum treated in the hospital.  
  
Still, she couldn't understand why Lelouch could so kind to the Japanese people. Considering that he was a Britannian himself. She used to think that Lelouch's kindness was just a shallow thing.  
  
Boy, was she wrong about that!  
  
It dawned to her now as to how Lelouch could be so kind. It's because he himself has been hurt that he could understand the pain that others have felt. It's because he could understand the pain other people feel that he wanted to change things for the better.  
  
Yet all these while, he never allowed anyone to see his pain.

"What happened to you in your past to cause you this much hurt?" she whispered softly before running a hand over Lelouch's cheek.  
  
She let out a small sigh before realizing how dry her throat felt. Careful not to disturb the bed too much, Kallen grabbed her shirt before tiptoeing out of the room.

xxx

The sound of voices stopped Kallen in her tracks as she took another route towards Lelouch's bedroom. She frowned. If there was some daring intruder that managed to sneak in, she should be able to jump on them before they could try harming Lelouch. Well, that was her initial thoughts. But then when she reached the floor where Lelouch's room was at, she saw that it was only Jeremiah... checking on them. And to her surprise, the _Emperor_ too.

She never thought Lelouch's father was the kind of person to personally come to see his son, especially considering the kind of person the Emperor projected in public.  And from the way Lelouch acted when talking about his father, she couldn't see the emperor to be the 'caring' type.

Regardless...

For the Emperor himself to finally show up here and check on Lelouch, did the exchange they had prior really affect the man so much?

Kallen hid from view as she continued eyeing Jeremiah escorting the Emperor out before taking leave himself. Suddenly curious, she silently headed towards the balcony overlooking the villa's entrance to see where the Emperor went. When she did, it surprised her to see that the Emperor was standing outside in the courtyard... confronting an odd-looking _child_. And the two looked as if they were arguing!

Kallen stopped herself as she thought that the kid looked somewhat familiar. She almost let out a loud gasp when she realized who was it. It was the same kid she saw talking to Jeremiah before!

But then, if the kid was V.V...

She recalled how Lelouch's father was telling them earlier that V.V. was his _twin brother_. So that kid was... Lelouch's _uncle?_

Turning back towards the direction of the courtyard, Kallen carefully tried to open a balcony window overlooking the area to see if she could hear anything...

xxx

V.V. was livid to find him there.

"Charles! What did you think you're doing right now? Are you abandoning the plan that we've been trying to achieve after so long? My—our dreams that we've worked so hard for so long?" the child exclaim angrily as the Emperor kept his silence.

"Are you really going to betray me... Charles?" shouted the child again as Charles finally spoke.

"Older brother... the one who betrayed the other first, wasn't it you? The one who broke our promise long ago to not lie to each other."

V.V. backed away without thinking. "W-what? What're you talking about... Charles?"

Charles zi Britannia frowned, as he openly revealed his dissatisfaction. "The attack on Marianne eight years ago... as well as the incident between my son, Lelouch and my daughter, Euphemia. Do you think that I would continue to be oblivious to the truth, V.V.?"

"That—I had to do it! Marianne was trying to take you away from me! And those two... if I didn't interfere with them, their alliance would've caused great changes that may ruin our plan. I had to do it. In order for us to complete the Ragnarok Connection!"

Charles glanced away. "Back then, I made Nunnally believe that she was blind... and sent the two into exile in Japan to protect them both from you. Wasn't that already enough? I ask you... brother, please leave my children alone from now on."

"My son... reminded me that there was still hope for a better future that was without war. In the same way that Marianne used to remind me of the kind of world that I wanted to create... before YOU intervened." Charles expression when he spoke, was firm. "I've... decided to put my faith in Lelouch. Unless his plans failed, I will personally... take down the Sword of Akasha. As well as everything else connected to Ragnarok Connection."

V.V. was furious. "You fool! You would jeopardize our lives' achievements just because your son said so? The son that you've willingly discarded before for your own personal goals? You're a foolish man, Charles!"

Charles bowed his head. "That may perhaps be what I am then. But now that I've regained my humanity... I will do all I can to make sure that my children will continue to live to achieve the future they wanted to create. Even if that meant, that I have to confront you."

"Fine! Be that way then!" V.V. shouted back before turning around to leave.

xxx

Kallen held her breath until she was sure that both people in the courtyard had left before letting out a sigh of relief. To think that she ended up finding out more about the truth of Lelouch's past! Especially regarding Nunnally—No wonder Lelouch was having a hard time coping with things now. Even her... after listening to the argument earlier, now finding it hard to assess the situation fully. Who were their true enemies... would liberating just Japan be enough to change their future? Before, she thought the Emperor was the vilest person she ever knew. But then she found out that the man—Lelouch's father—did all that to protect his children.

_Should she... tell Lelouch about the things she's just heard earlier?_

Kallen jumped in fright, while on her way back to Lelouch's bedroom to see Anya sitting by herself in a corner beside a window. _"Did she see me eavesdropping on the Emperor earlier?"_ she wondered to herself as Anya just stared at her blankly, before turning her attention back towards her phone. Kallen cocked her head at her, puzzled before continuing on her way.

"Hey," Anya suddenly spoke, as Kallen instantly froze. This time, would she be talking to Lelouch's mother... or just Anya?

"That boy... Lelouch. Who was he to you?"

Kallen turned around towards the girl, slightly taken aback.

_So it's not Lelouch's mother right now?_

Kallen gasped in relief. Even then, a part of her was still feeling wary. Yet, seeing that Anya didn't look as if she was trying to mock her, she shrugged.

"Lelouch... that guy, he's an important person to me."

"I see," came the reply as her next sentence took Kallen by surprise.

"Then, do you have... plenty of good memories with him?"

It puzzled her as Anya suddenly ask her that so suddenly. But then, thinking of the past as well as the smile Lelouch used to show to her before, Kallen shrugged.

"Yes, I do."

Anya didn't bother her anymore after that.

xxx

He was back at the gardens, looking exactly like the last time he remembered it. There was that patio where he, Nunnally and his mother used to sit together for their family portrait. At which time in the middle of it, Nunnally suddenly decided to take off with his mother's bonnet... and that led him to chase after her all over the garden.  
  
He wondered why he was back at this place as he ended up walking towards the patio and sat on the settee. Alone.  
  
"It brings back old memories, doesn't it?"   
  
A voice... to whom belonged to someone he never thought he could meet again suddenly spoke. Without looking, he could sense that the other has walked by and sat beside him.  
  
"Perhaps...", he answered, leading the other to sigh in response.  
  
"Ara! You should've answered 'Yes, it does!'... idiot,"  
  
Lelouch chuckled but more because he missed that melodious voice, "I probably should, shouldn't I?" he replied back before turning around to greet the person properly. "Why are you here, Euphie?" he asked finally.  
  
Her late sister, Euphemia li Britannia smiled back at him.  
  
"Because you were lost."

Lelouch stared at her oddly.  
  
"I was?"  
  
"Yes, you were. So that's why I came here. Because you already have the answer all along. "  
  
Lelouch turned away. "I don't know what you're talking about."  
  
"Yes, you do."  
  
"No, I don't. "  
  
"Yes, you do."  
  
"No, I—fine! What answer was it you're referring?"  
  
"The solution that was better than the Ragnarok Connection plan."  
  
That got his attention as he snapped. "What did you mean? I didn't—"  
  
"You do. It's an answer that you once considered but then let go because you thought that it was for a lost cause. But you can try it again a second time, and this time I know that you could make it work!"

He frowned. "What're you talking about Euphie? What solution? I still haven't thought about what was it that I'm supposed to do—"  
  
"But you did Lelou—"  
  
"No—" Lelouch was about to say before stopping himself, "—now Euphie, we're not going to start on this loop again, are we—?"  
  
"—or else you wouldn't have immediately given your answer on why Father's plan was wrong!" Euphie interjected as Lelouch stared at her, puzzled. Euphemia just shrugged.

"You were right, you can't force people to be kind. You needed to be kind too before someone else would be able to accept the kindness. Wasn't that how you gained so many people who wanted to support you?"  
  
Lelouch frowned at her as he wondered what she meant by that. Euphemia continued talking.   
  
"Your friends back in Ashford. Why were they drawn towards you all this time? Why did Kallen continue to stay by your side until now? Why have your words moved our father's and your mother's heart?" Euphie shrugged.

"Lelouch," she started to say again, "—wasn't that... because you're a _kind_ person?"  
  
Lelouch scoffed at those words as he turned away from her. "What did you mean that I'm kind? Euphie, I was the one who killed you. How could you still say that I'm—"  
  
Euphie would let him have the final say, "That's because you didn't want me to suffer, right? Even if you managed to spare my life anyway—at the cost of so many lives, I wouldn't be able to live by myself either if I had lived. You yourself wouldn't have forgiven yourself if you let so many innocents die."  
  
Lelouch just shook his head, "But that...was just sugarcoating the situation. It doesn't change the fact that—"  
  
Euphie let out another long sigh, "That's all in the past now, isn't it? Regardless of what already happened, you still need to keep on walking towards the future."  
  
"But what's that gotta do with—!"  
  
"The Special Administrative Zone," Euphie immediately jumped to the topic right away. "You still have that... right?"  
  
Lelouch immediately turned towards her in surprise, "What did you mean? That plan..."  
  
"Would've failed in my hands regardless, even if that incident didn't happen. You were right in thinking that it would end up badly. Just because I've relinquished my title, it doesn't mean that the SAZ would work after that. In order for it to be accomplished, a royalty must step in to oversee the plan all the way. Since to implement the zone, we would need to have someone in the position of authority to enforce the rules."

Euphie let out a long sigh. "And back then, I _was_  a bit naive in that I only thought to implement SAZ policy to just Japan. I never really thought far on how to really make it work and thought that I could just leave it all to you to figure it out.

"If I have lost my power as a princess of Britannia, how would I be able to ensure that the plan would go smoothly? Even if I have you by my side... against the whole of Britannia's might, what chance could we even made it past that?"  
  
Lelouch gasped, finally started to realize what she meant.  
  
"Euphie, you mean..."  
  
"Lelouch! Reclaim your true name! Change the world." Euphie shrugged, "Something like this, should be possible for you... right? I mean, all these times, you've managed to survive in Japan with Nunnally with your own power. You've lived all these years amongst the Japanese people. You have seen the way they lived and would be able to empathize with their struggles. Someone like you would've been able to relate with the Japanese people... much better than I do. Would there be anyone else more suitable than you?"  
  
Lelouch snorted. "Perhaps not. Then again... there's still Nunnally." He shook his head regardless, "But with Schneizel pulling the strings behind her right now, the SAZ wouldn't have reached its true potential if we were to leave it to Nunnally."  
  
"So in the end, you're the only one who should do it! Just as planned," said Euphie, seemingly proud as if she had a hand in arranging the whole scenario.  
  
Lelouch gave Euphie a look of utter disbelief. "You're not going to stop until I promise to do this, aren't you?"  
  
Euphie grinned.

"Good for you to finally get it."

xxx

Opening his eyes when he was awake seemed like a natural thing for him to do. In which it surprised him to realize how a moment later, that it wasn't the usual darkness that greeted him when he opened his eyes. Instead, he could see that there was a faint light... and something _bluish_ all around him.

_He could see again?_

But he could still only see blurry images and colours. He sighed. But that should be fine, right? Since that meant what the physician said to him last time was true, and he had been a very obedient patient these past few days in taking the medication and rest in a timely manner the way he was told. So his eyesight did... gradually returned.

Lelouch turned his head to his side to find a beautiful maiden asleep beside him. Even with his sight as hazy as it was, she looked stunning in his eyes. As his eyes trailed down to admire the sleeping girl beside him... it took him a while to realize that—Kallen was clad in just her undergarment. 

Which should be fine for anyone to do that but... she's sleeping on the same bed as him.

But then again, he realized that he was topless too—What the hell happen last night!—he hastily turned away. If he remembered correctly, last night... Kallen kissed him. And those kisses she gave made him feel so good that he didn't want her to stop. He barely recalled begging her to stay when she was about to leave...

_What else happened after that?_

"Lelouch? You're awake?"

Lelouch turned his face to his side to see Kallen staring back at him, and hurriedly look away and covered his face with the comforter.

xxx

"What're you doing, Kallen? Have some modesty!"

Kallen blinked at him before looking down towards herself. Well, one of the straps on her bra had slipped over her shoulder but that's nothing to be alarmed about... she's just fine wi—wait?

_Did Lelouch just...?_

She immediately jumped on Lelouch and pulled the covers off him.

"Lelouch! You can see again?"

That earned her a high-pitched shriek from Lelouch as he exclaimed, "That's not the most important thing, idiot!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Perhaps, I should leave a bit of commentary here regarding the last chapter. While I haven't really been thinking about this actively, I do wonder what different outcome that could've happened if Lelouch reached the World of C and found out the truth before he lost too many people he cared about that made him decided to destroy everything. And if it was possible to change Charles' mind had the plan still not fully completed yet (and even this, was partially influenced by Nightmare's premise. But Nightmare didn't have V.V. XP) And that, gave birth to the last chapter. Hope people liked it.
> 
> A/N2: Added a bit on V.V.'s scenes.


	12. Resolve

Kallen let out a chortle as she straightened out Lelouch's cravat. Said prince was still red-faced after all the teasing Kallen gave him prior.

"Seriously, Lelouch. Calm down already... and let me dress you in peace—"

Lelouch grabbed Kallen's hands before tugging the cravat off him. "I can do this myself. And why did you pick up this outfit?" 

Kallen shrugged. "Why not? You didn't complain about my choices of clothes on you before—"

"It's because this outfit isn't your normal casual wears! Where this you find this royal outfit anyway? Don't tell me you somehow had these tailored or something. _How did you even managed to do that?_ "

Kallen clicked her tongue at him. 

"Now dear, don't worry about the minor details..."

"Are we going somewhere—?"

"Not really—"

"So I'm asking why we even need to—!"

Kallen placed a finger on Lelouch's lips, which somehow has always flustered him.

The girl smiled, "You can always pretend that we're doing this to celebrate the fact that you can see again—"

"I still can't see _everything_ clearly. And that's a rather weak reason to warrant us to have to be dressed up so much. Especially when we're both still cooped up here. It's not like we're having people coming over as well..."

"—can't I just dress you up because I want to?" Kallen's voice raised slightly, as Lelouch stopped talking immediately. It was clear to him that Kallen was slightly agitated.

"I'm sorry..." he started to say as Kallen leaned over to kiss his cheek.

Kallen let out a soft sigh. "Then how about this? We do a small party—just between us _four_ —to celebrate your recovery." She shrugged. "If that's not enough reason for you, how about we turn it into a belated birthday party for you?"

Lelouch stared at her in surprise. "K-Kallen, how did—?"

"I found out while I was looking for this royal outfit earlier. If I'd known, I could have—nah. Then again, you were still sleeping before and so much have happened after you woke up."

"Kallen... I—"

"Is that still not enough reason? Or... you're right. I should find something else for you to wear—"

Lelouch hurriedly grabbed her arm before she could get too far from him.

"It's fine..." he said slowly, as he passed the cravat to her. "And thank you."

That made her smile again as Kallen proceed to put back the cravat around Lelouch's neck. Once she's done, she ran towards a nearby desk to take a small box before bringing it to his side.

"I just remembered that Dr Ainsley sent this over yesterday. I was supposed to tell you about it but, you know—" She sighed again before continuing, "I know it's not really much for a birthday _present_ of a sort but..."

Lelouch nodded as he watched Kallen open the box and took out the item inside it. Kallen knelt in front of Lelouch as she fastened the leg brace on his right leg.

"I thought that you'd like to try to get used to this. And now that you could see—" Kallen glanced towards Lelouch as she corrected herself, "— _a bit_ , I don't think it's too soon for you to start practising on how to walk by yourself."

Kallen handed him an elbow forearm crutch as she stood up to help Lelouch get on his feet. As he stumbled on his feet, Kallen briskly caught him before hearing a faint  _click_ behind her. 

Both of them turned towards the sound just in time to see Anya put down her phone. The girl smiled at them, whimsically.

"What a nice picture..."

xxx

When Jeremiah heard the cries of alarm from upstairs, he had been imagining the worst. He had raced as fast as he could towards the direction of the room of his young _master_ , wondering if something terrible has happened.  
  
He was taken aback when he arrived to see the red-headed girl, Kallen and Anya hovering around the young prince as he tried to walk by himself using a crutch. The sight of the young prince concentrating in his ordeal gave him a mix of emotions.  
  
_"You can do it... Lelouch! One more step!"_  
  
It was as if he had been instantly taken back into the past, back to the time when the young prince was barely _a few years old_. He had been sent to the villa, to let him familiarize with the household at first. Since it was a bit too early for him at the time to enrol into the Imperial Institute, yet his parents _insisted_ that he needed to be at the Empress's good side. Since it would not be too bad for his future if he did end up serving the empress once he was older. And coincidentally, the day when he arrived at the villa the Empress and the young Princess Cornelia were spending the day with the young prince. So while he was helping them out to watch over Prince Lelouch, the young prince had stood up suddenly and tried to walk by himself. The young prince had a few trial and errors... but somehow in the middle of it, little Lelouch seemed to start heading towards _him_ rather than to the Empress!  
  
_"Ah, Lelouch! Be careful! Not too fast!"_  
  
Jeremiah was immediately taken back to the present as he briskly caught the _young prince_ from _crashing_ towards him. Kallen and Anya stared at him in surprise as he looked down to see the young prince smiling happily, cheeks flushed after all of his efforts to trying to master the use of his crutch. Jeremiah smiled, as he recalled having had a similar  _accident_ happening to him long ago.  
  
As Prince Lelouch glanced up towards him to mutter some words of apologies, Jeremiah was reminded again the _reason_ why he has sworn loyalty to forever serve Lady Marianne and his children until the ends of time.

xxx

A few days later, Viceroy's Palace of Area 11, Tokyo Settlement, Area 11

There was something that she needed to confirm for herself. Princess Cornelia ran up towards the Viceroy's office to find both Schneizel and Nunnally inside, apparently having just finished with an announcement broadcast, that was aired minutes ago. It's just that, she couldn't believe that her brother could do something drastic like this...

"Brother! What's that announcement earlier was all about?"

Schneizel just turned his head towards her, seemingly unperturbed. "It's just as you can see from the announcement. I'm setting up an ultimatum to end this war completely. We've been playing cat and mouse with those rebels long enough and it's about time we end this."

"But setting the battlefield at the ghettos again? Even if some of them had been the hiding place for some of the other rebelling groups besides the Black Knights, there's still a lot of normal civilians that lived in those ghetto areas. Making those areas a battlefield—"

"Which is why I set the deadline for _tomorrow_. If those Numbers were smart enough, they'd know what to do. Also, there's no use for us to keep those rebels alive. And since they like to fight anyway, why don't we give them a place to die with honour. The way those Elevenses seem to glorify anyway."

Schneizel just shrugged. "Besides, knowing how those smaller groups of rebels might be in danger would have led to those of the bigger rebels to finally show themselves. We still haven't captured half of the remaining members of the Order, have we?"

She turned to look at Nunnally to see if she could say something to change their brother's mind but then decided that it makes no difference. Their brother has placed Nunnally as the Viceroy for appearance only. If Nunnally ever had any say on this, that ultimatum wouldn't even be announced!

Cornelia bit her lips. If she was still the old Cornelia that she used to be before, she wouldn't have batted an eye at such strategies like this. In fact, she used to employ strategies like these in the past. But then, that was before she'd seen many tragedies that changed her thoughts about everything. And there were some things that Zero— _Lelouch_ —had said to her before that started to affect her now. During the battlefield in Narita... and then the incident in Kawaguchi...

And finding out about many other things which include the fact that Lelouch was the one who was leading the rebellion against Britannia, it made her take a step back and reexamine her ways. Was what she—Britannia—has been doing all this time the right thing? Was subduing countries and placing them under Britannia the only way for them to keep the peace?

Honestly right now, she wasn't sure about it anymore...

xxx

"Oh no!"

Lelouch turned his attention towards Kallen who was sitting on the desk, reading yesterday's newspapers that she managed to convince Jeremiah to let her have. "What is it, Kallen?" he asked, getting up from his spot to walk towards her.

"It's nothing, Lelou _—_ " she started to say as Lelouch arrived at her side while he tried to see what was it she was reading. Kallen turned around as she noticed Lelouch squinting at the papers. Of course, even when Lelouch's sight was gradually returning he did tell her earlier that it was still blurry for him to see anything clearly. And fine prints were not part of the things he could see properly at the moment. She sighed before pulling out a chair beside her to let him sit as she offered to read the articles for him.

"It seemed that the situation has started to escalate in Japan again. Apparently, after Schneizel's forces over there kept having the Ikaruga on and off the radar for these past two months they're not putting up with it anymore. So they put up an ultimatum for the final battle," Kallen pointed towards the article she was reading. "This was from yesterday's news, and the announcement placed the deadline of the ultimatum to today. In the next eight hours, they're going to set the battlefield over the ghetto areas to exterminate every rebel or revolutionist that remained in hiding there. So unless they surrender, regardless if it was mere civilians or terrorists, none of them would be spared."

Lelouch frowned. "That's no good. We can't let that happen! We need to get back to Japan—" 

Kallen let out a cry as she turned to see Lelouch already headed towards the stairways before tripping over himself midway. She hurriedly chased after him before helping him back on his feet.

"But Lelouch, you're still not completely well—"

Lelouch turned to face her, looking very determined. "Even then! Aren't you frustrated as well? Our allies there were still fighting a battle while we're over here, unable to help. Rather than staying cooped up here, don't you prefer to return there and fight?"

Kallen frowned at him, torn between her desire to rush straight to Japan and wanting to keep Lelouch safe. She shook her head soon after, realizing that she wouldn't be able to choose. "Regardless, how on earth should we head back there? And even if we did, what is it that we can even do to save our allies?"

"What's the problem?" 

Lelouch and Kallen turned towards the voice as Jeremiah and Anya walked over towards their direction.

"We have to return to Japan!" Lelouch exclaimed loudly as Jeremiah gave him a peculiar look.

"And what did you want to do once you've returned there?" asked Jeremiah again. Kallen gave him a wary look. Throughout their stay in this villa, she was fully aware of Jeremiah's feeling regarding their involvement— _especially Lelouch_ —with the Black Knights. And as much as Jeremiah had mellowed out on them for the last few days, she hadn't dared ask if that opinion of his has ever changed.

Kallen turned her attention towards Lelouch as he remained undaunted.

"I vowed to change the world so that Nunnally would be able to live in a kind and gentle world. In order to do that, I needed my allies—the Black Knights—by my side to aid me to reach that purpose. And I need to stop Schneizel from hurting my people just to attain his victory."

Kallen's eyes widened at Lelouch's statement.

Did Lelouch just... called the Black Knights—no, all of the Japanese people perhaps—as his people? In all her memories, while Lelouch was Zero... he rarely ever made it a point to claim that the Knights were his minions. Pawns perhaps but even while leading them into battle, she always felt that Zero always placed a certain wall between them and him. And even if he called them allies, it wasn't as if everyone had been following him having the same kind of loyalty as any other loyalists. After all, Lelouch has been hiding his identity from them all these times. Zero might have been their leader, but it wasn't as if he was leading them as a monarch.

_For Lelouch to say something like that..._

Yet it seemed that was the very answer that Jeremiah was seeking as he bowed his head before kneeling.

"Very well, then I will do my utmost to serve you with everything I have," said the man as Kallen stared at him, amazed at the quick answer.

"So... have you finally made a decision on a path to take?"

Kallen immediately turned her attention towards Anya again. And she noted seeing... a reddish glow in both her eyes. This wasn't Anya speaking to them. This was Marianne, Lelouch's mother.

"Yes, I've made my decision already," said Lelouch as _Marianne_ smiled.

"Very well, then I supposed you'd need some help."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter originally was part of the Sand Dream (initially named Resolve) before I decided to stretch the timeline a bit more and have the two remain in Aries a few days longer.
> 
> A/N: Out of the blue I decided to add an extra backstory to Jeremiah because really, I'm a sucker for cute stuff. That aside, the next few chapters might take a while to complete. Since I haven't actually pinned down most of the important parts on how I wanted things to happen. I always told myself I'm bad at heartwarming stuff but half the time it worked so...


	13. Credens Justitiam

Kallen gently tied the bejewelled eyepatch around his head to cover Lelouch's left eye before sighing. Even with everything that they have prepared in advance, she couldn't help worrying. Even with the extra aid that they received, she was aware that the battlefield was where every outcome would remain uncertain.

"Are you sure about this, Lelouch? I can't help to think that this plan was too risky, even for you."

Lelouch glanced up as he let Kallen place a kiss over the eye that was now covered by the eyepatch. Despite the situation, he couldn't help feeling slightly pleased at her show of affection to him. 

Lelouch kissed her on the lips when he got the chance to do so.

"Did it worry you so much that you have to insist for yourself to be made officially my knight?"

"Mhmm..." Kallen replied before wrapping her arms around Lelouch. "I was that worried. Don't do anything too rash until I get back to you."

Lelouch chuckled.

"Silly girl," he said before sighing. "Now I have yet another thing in common to that dreadful father of mine."

Lelouch gave her an amused smile, "Did you know that my mother was formerly a knight before she was married to my father?"

"I don't care," said Kallen bluntly.

"I just wanted to remain by your side for as long as I live. Even if that means becoming your personal knight under the Britannian flag. Besides, it was not as if I wasn't already your _knight_ before."

Another chuckle slipped his lips.

"True enough." 

Lelouch gave her a weak smile. "But in your case back then, I already assigned you the role of Q1. My _Queen_."

That earned him a chuckle as well another peck on his cheek.

xxx

"Are you worrying about them... Marianne?"

The girl turned her face towards him, clearly looking very distraught. Despite her appearance appearing to be belonging to a teenager, her facial expression was of someone much _older_. The face of a mother who was worried about the safety of her children.

"Do you want to head to Area 11 with them as well and join the battlefield?"

"Of course I do! So why didn't you let me join them, Charles?"

Charles zi Britannia just smiled.

"Because I needed you to do something else for me first. Go to the Chinese Federation and bring someone back to aid you in battle."

"The Chinese Federation," Marianne gasped before realizing her husband real intention for sending her there. She smiled before excusing herself. "Very well then. I'll head there first before going to Area 11."

xxx

Toudou's expression was grim as he observed the battleplans laid out by Asahina. He turned his attention towards Kaguya.

"I'm sorry, Lady Kaguya. If only my capability to lead was as good as Zero, we wouldn't have to end up like this. And we're also without one of our best pilots—"

Sumeragi Kaguya shook her head as she turned to reassure the older man. "Please don't worry, Toudou-san! Despite everything, we've managed to stand our grounds here even without Zero-sama and Kallen's presence. And even if we've lost Ohgi-san and a few other of our members to the enemy, we're still able to keep on surviving. And I'm sure, once they've returned we should be able to turn this bleak situation around."

"Lady Kaguya," Toudou glanced towards the little girl again. "Do you still believe that those two were still alive? I mean, that C.C. has said that they've disappeared that time and so far our search for them didn't bring out any positive result."

Kaguya let out a long sigh before turning to face Toudou again. "Yes, I still believe that they're alive. And until they come back, we needed to keep everyone safe from the Britannians."

Toudou glanced towards the timer as he prepared to leave.

"I better start going now. The time of the ultimatum is drawing near, I better get to my Gekka," he said as Kaguya nodded.

"Please stay safe!"

xxx

"Lord Schneizel!"

The second prince turned around towards Kanon as he gave him a questioning look. "What is it?"

"There's another Britannian airship heading towards this area. From the identification we got from the records, it appears to be the flagship of the Emperor."

Prince Schneizel just waved the concerns away. "You don't have to worry about that man. The Emperor wouldn't involve himself in this battle."

Kanon just frowned at him. "Are you sure, my Lord?"

"Yes. Leave it," said the prince again as Kanon reluctantly obeyed. He bit his lips as he wondered if he should tell the second prince about a Knightmare that has set out towards the Viceroy's Palace from the airship.

But in the end, against his own better judgement, Kanon abandoned that thought. 

xxx

Toudou let out a curse as he stared back towards the viewer display, where Lancelot Conquista—piloted by his former student—hovered loomingly in front of him. Being aware of his own Gekka's ability and having seen the upgraded Lancelot's battle capacity, he had no confidence that he could overcome the other Knightmare based on battle capabilities alone.

Yet, he couldn't allow Lancelot to engage in battle with the other members of the Order of the Black Knights—who might not be able to match Suzaku's ability in battle—and lose their battle strengths. As if they did not _also_ have to worry about the Knightmares from the Knights of Rounds.

**"Toudou-sensei! It doesn't have to end like this! Please surrender!"**

He frowned. A part of him wished that Zero was still around. Since the other members seemed to have more faith in Zero as a leader compared to him, and Zero was better at organizing strategic manoeuvres instead of him.

But it wasn't as if wishing could make things become reality.

Toudou activated his Seidoutou as he piloted his Gekka straight towards Lancelot—

xxx

Suzaku swerved as his former master lunged his sword towards him, while he parried with Lancelot's Maser swords.

His Lancelot and his master's Gekka clashed a few more times again as Suzaku pondered about his next move. While it's true that his former master was better than him in terms of martial arts; when it comes to Knightmare piloting capabilities... his skills were much better.

Yet, a part of him didn't want to have to defeat his former master in this battle.

If he could say so without sounding so conceited, so far the only one that managed to cut close to him during battle... was Kallen. But right now the Order didn't even have their Ace pilot on their side. So if he defeats Toudou right now, the Order's strength would've greatly plunge...

Suzaku sensed another movement as Lancelot backed away, just as an energy beam almost hit him. He turned around as an unidentified Knightmare joined the fray and started engaging him in battle.

Suzaku cursed aloud, "What's this? Reinforcement?"

To his surprise, his scanners suddenly a few more Knightmares joining the battlefield and engaging in battles with the ground troops. Even more surprising was that those Knightmares came from a Britannian airship!

xxx

Toudou gasped in surprise as the new Knightmare intercepted their battle and attacked Lancelot. And... it seemed that the new Knightmare have arrived to aid him. But he heard nothing about a new Knightmare, and the design was nothing like the ones that Rakshata designed...

And was it just him, but this new Knightmare had a slight resemblance to the one piloted by the Knight of Three?

Toudou blinked as he noticed that the new Knightmare was hailing him. He turned on the communication as an image of a teal-haired Britannian with some sort of artificial eye stared back to him.

"Please leave Lancelot to me. Go and aid your allies in battle!" said the man.

"B-but!" Toudou started to argue as the man's next word cut his argument short.

"I'd like to assure you that I'm an ally sent by Zero. And right now I am ordered to put this battle to an abrupt end. Please go and make sure that your allies do not suffer any more casualty!"

Suddenly put to task in that way, Toudou could do nothing but heed the man's words. And silently hoped that this decision would not turn out biting him back afterwards.

xxx

_What... is this guy?_

The new Knightmare suddenly approached him in a haphazard way. And unlike Toudou-sensei, this person was harder for him to read—!

Suzaku shook his head as a combination of Slash Harken assault, alongside a wave of beam energy blast and a torrent of bullets managed to deliver an amount of damage towards his Lancelot. He tensed, as he thought he could hear a crack on the side of his cockpit. Impossible!

"I... have to live on!" exclaimed Suzaku as he activated the FLEIJA launcher. It didn't register in his mind though that during their aerial fights that the new Knightmare had kept trying to attack him from his blind spot. And at the moment when he launched the FLEIJA, the enemy's back was facing towards the Tokyo settlement areas...

xxx

Nunnally jumped slightly as she heard the other person making a sudden move. Despite her inabilities to see, from the sound of the person erratic breath... she could tell that something dreadful must have happened. And a moment later, Nunnally could feel a certain tremor surrounding her. A kind of intense air pressure that felt so unbearable.

_What... **was** this feeling?_

"Jeremiah! Jeremiah! What's happening out there? Please respond!"

Nunnally turned her attention back towards the young man's voice as the radio transmission started to give out some interference.

**"... bzzt... My Lord... bzzt... can you hear me?"**

The young man gasped aloud.

"Lord Jeremiah! Are you all right? How about the Black Knights?"

**"...bzzt... narrowly... bzzt... Mordred... bzzt..."**

The room was quiet for a while before Nunnally heard another call coming in. This time a younger... female voice spoke.

**"I arrived just in time... didn't I? I can't allow my precious children to be sacrificed needlessly after all..."**

The person let out an alarmed cry for some reason before speaking again.

"T-that—! Don't just suddenly—Nunnally is here as well!" Nunnally gasped at the mention of her name, "—you can't just say something like that out of the blue—!"

She frowned. Aside from the fact that this was the first time the person actually admitted that she was still inside the room with him, Nunnally couldn't understand why the person didn't want her to listen to whatever the other lady was talking about. Besides, the voice sounded too young... and her mother, Marianne was long deceased.

**"...bzzt... My Lord... pardon! I had to... bzzt... cancel... bzzt... on him!"**

Nunnally could still hear the person let out another sigh. He sounded... as if very disappointed.

"It's all right, Lord Jeremiah... I understand. Just do what you have to do to end the battle."

xxx

Lelouch let out a long sigh before turning to glance towards Nunnally again, who still seemed perturbed over him ignoring her for quite some time.

**"Ne... Lelouch? Shouldn't you start moving already? At this rate, even Bismarck can't do much to keep the casualties to a minimum. And we're dealing with Knight of Three, Four, Nine and Ten... besides Seven—"**

He gasped as he turned back towards the computer. _Bismarck... the Knight of One? Is he here too?_

"But why—oh!" Lelouch gasped before he immediately sending out an order for a ceasefire to the Knights of Rounds, as well as the members of the Britannian military...

xxx

Schneizel frowned as he noticed that the military had ceased fighting. He turned around before summoning Kanon to his side, as the man gave his report.

"My Lord... it seemed a ceasefire order was just sent out from the Viceroy's Palace. A recall order was also being made to every military officer present on the battlefield. Avalon was also ordered to back away and return as well."

Cornelia, who was also sitting nearby expressed her surprise. "Order from the palace? But why would Nunnally—"

Kanon interjected right away. "But from what I gathered from the officer who accepted the message, the one who sent out the order was not Princess Nunnally—"

Schneizel let out an amused smile as he stood up. "Oh really? How impertinent of them to issue such orders to us," he spoke, before turning towards Cornelia. "We might as well go back and find out who was this uninvited guest ourselves."

He turned his attention towards Kanon again. "What's happening now at the battlefield?" he asked as Kanon bowed.

"Most of the army had started to retreat, including the Knights of Rounds. Knight of Ten appeared to disagree with the order and now engaging Knight of One. Knight of Six and a Tristan-type Knightmare appeared to be engaging the Knight of Seven."

Kanon paused, as he prepared himself for the worse before continuing. "A few Knightmares were dispatched from the Emperor's flagship and the ship itself seemed to be backing the enemy."

"WHAT!" exclaimed Schneizel before recollecting himself. This situation didn't make any sense. He didn't expect the Emperor to get personally involved with this.

Schneizel frowned before ordering Avalon to return to the palace. Yet it intrigued him... that the newcomer even had the assistance of both Knight of One and Six. Could it be possible...?

Well, he might as well confirm it for himself.

xxx

Kaguya frowned as she couldn't understand what was happening. Somehow in the midst of battle, a Britannian reinforcement had arrived. And just when she thought the situation couldn't get any worse, the Britannian newcomer didn't join with their own allies to fight against them. But rather, they were siding with the Order! Even more surprising when she heard the reports of three Knightmares coming to aid Toudou; two being from the Knights of the Round itself. What was this unbelievable situation?

Diethard's voice suddenly boomed as he alerted Kaguya of an incoming Knightmare that headed straight towards Ikaruga. Just as Kaguya was about to assess the situation, a new transmission intercepted their communication as Kaguya glanced up towards the screens.

To her surprise, it was Kallen herself who was hailing towards them.

"Kaguya-san! Let me in. We've got no time to waste if we want to end this battle right now!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally I get to have Kaguya and Toudou into this fic. Though I could barely remember how Kaguya addresses anyone besides Lelouch, so if her mannerism was wrong, please tell me.


	14. Carpe Noctem

"Kallen!" Kaguya cried out as she greeted the red-haired girl once she got out of Gareth's cockpit. 

"Kaguya-san..." Kallen called out in return.  
  
Kaguya held her hands before smiling widely. "I knew it! You're still alive!" she exclaimed at Kallen before looking up towards the Gareth that Kallen piloted earlier. Her face fell as it didn't look as if anyone  _else_  would be coming out from the Knightmare.  
  
"Zero-sama... wasn't with you?" she asked as Kallen shook her head.  
  
"No, he's not. But he's alive." Kallen added, to Kaguya's relief. 

"Thank goodness!" said Kaguya again before pausing. "You have no idea what's been going on just now. The battlefield ended up so confusing—"  
  
"About that, Kaguya..." Kaguya stared at Kallen in confusion. "It's too long to explain at the moment, but I need you and everyone else to  _trust_  me and Zero right now. I can't stay long," said Kallen as they turned around to see Toudou approaching them, alongside Jeremiah Gottwald.

xxx

Lelouch paced around in front of the desk as he counted the minutes. So far, aside from one stray Knight of Round, the rest of the ground troops and others from the Rounds has accepted his orders without question. And while he hasn't heard from the small squad that accompanied him from Pendragon after their deployment, he trusted that Jeremiah could keep them in line.

He sighed.  
  
So far so good. But with the return of the troops, that would also mean that Avalon would also be returning back. In which another confrontation with Schneizel would be inevitable.

Lelouch thought about the last time he saw Schneizel. He wondered if this time, he could actually  _ally_  himself with his older brother. But then he thought about how Schneizel decided on putting up the ultimatum which led to the earlier battle; that could have costed his, Nunnally and numerous others' innocent lives in the process. That odd explosion earlier, in which it looked like some kind of a  _nuclear_  blast; where even its aftershocks—its collapse field would have caused even more damage to anything that the field touched. It didn't look as if Schneizel was beneath taking drastic measures that would involve the death of many innocents.

Would that be his fault? Did the shock of seeing Euphie change drastically to have caused a massacre—that was unlike her—made his older brother losing his empathy and no longer caring about his own set of morality anymore?

No, Lelouch shook his head. That's like saying his own sins for taking so many lives in the process of pursuing his personal goals could be blamed on someone  **else**. Just because he himself has suffered enough trauma to make him choose to become a demon. No, regardless of everything... the consequences of one's actions would still be attributed to one's choice. No matter what kind of past one experienced that may influence the choices they made throughout their lives, it wouldn't absolve any of the sins they committed.

No doubt that a prototype of that bomb has been mounted on the Lancelot—Suzaku was probably the only one who could've set that off. If he thought such action was necessary, given his Geass order. Yet it didn't look as if the weapon was already perfected or tuned. But the fact that Schneizel actually  **allowed**  such weapon to be produced, meaning that it would still be too soon for him to fully trust Schneizel to become an ally.

As much as Lelouch was an unpredictable variable to any plans that Schneizel would have had in store, the opposite could also be considered to be true. And compared to him, Schneizel would have been an even more terrible opponent to face. Such opponent was not someone that he should carelessly let loose among his ranks.

He could hear sounds of hurried footsteps against the tiled floors coming towards his direction. That should be them...

xxx

"Lelouch!" Cornelia exclaimed as Schneizel sighed.

"As I thought, it WAS you. Though I did not expect that you'd be so daring as to openly take over the command of this place and act as the Viceroy yourself!"

Lelouch chuckled, before turning around from his desk... almost with a swagger. He grinned as he smiled towards his older siblings; Schneizel and Cornelia.

"Heh! And I thought the first thing you would say to me would be of how 'happy' you were to see me alive." Lelouch shrugged, before circling the desk to sit on the Viceroy's chair. "Well... to answer your earlier inquiry, isn't that a given fact? If I'm confident enough to be able to take over the Viceroy's role from Nunnally, don't you think I wouldn't exercise my rights to give orders as one?"

Schneizel raised a brow at him.

Lelouch turned his chair around—oh, he really loved these swivel chairs. They always add to the dramatics—as he gave Schneizel a patronizing look. "I'm surprised that you didn't question it at all on the fact that I'm the one who gave the order for the military to retreat. Rather than having Nunnally do it for me."

"Should I?" Schneizel asked. "Considering you had that  _power_  of yours, it wouldn't be too hard for you to get everyone under your command."

Lelouch snorted at him. "I'm flattered that you'd think so highly of my Geass ability... even if your assumption fell too short from the truth. Perhaps it was a grace that the one who received this power was me, instead of you. Who knows what disaster if you're the one left unchecked with this power..."

Lelouch took a small case that was placed on the side of his desk before dropping it onto the desk. He started unlocking the case before turning it around so that both of his older siblings could see it. He sighed. "I wished that I don't have to take this out... but I might as well show this to you—"

He opened the case widely to reveal to them a royal sceptre placed inside it. Lelouch set the case aside before taking out the sceptre in his hand and twirled it around in front of him. He gave a brief glance towards Nunnally, silently hoping for her forgiveness as he ignored her presence again for a bit more. Lelouch glanced back towards his elder siblings.

"Even if I said nothing about this, the two of you should be able to understand what this means, right? So if I say that I'm taking over this place as the new Viceroy—or at least a temporary one for now—none of you would have any right to object."

Schneizel frowned at the royal sceptre as Lelouch let out an amused smile.  
  
"Are you doubting the fact that this sceptre was a real one? But sorry to disappoint you but this sceptre is quite legit." Lelouch gave Schneizel a challenging look. "I'm sure you can figure out yourself as to who gave me this sceptre. Since obviously that someone knew that you wouldn't listen to me if I didn't have this."  
  
Schneizel let out a cry of disbelief. "Nonsense! That man no longer has any interest in the matters of this world. I'm sure that you acquired the sceptre as well as the Emperor's flagship by some use of trickery. In the same way that you managed to have the two Knights of the Rounds to help you."  
  
Lelouch sighed again. "Again I'm baffled as to your assumption that my abilities would just be limited to the use of my Geass. Is it that hard to consider that perhaps I have succeeded in achieving something that you yourself cannot do?"

Schneizel snorted. "And that would be?"

Lelouch shrugged. But then he stood up, using the desk as his support before walking out towards the other side of the desk and leaning against it. "Convincing our father to start caring again about the matters of the state. To be fair, even  **I**  was surprised that my words could actually reach him. After everything he did to me, I never thought that he still cared about me. Or Nunnally, in any case."

He glanced again towards Schneizel as his brother remained sceptical. Lelouch turned his glance towards Nunnally before sighing. "Honestly, the way that man showed his affections to his favoured children was unbelievable."

Lelouch smiled weakly before sighing.

"Still, don't you think that this arrangement would be the most appropriate? For Japan that was renamed Area 11, wouldn't the eleventh prince be the most suitable person to take care of her?"

xxx

Something must've happened. To think that not just the Knight of Six, Anya... but even the Knight of One would side with the Black Knights! And the recall order, he didn't think that Lord Schneizel would call them back just when the possibility of victory for their side was about to come close! For the past few months, he worked tirelessly to quell down the rebelling forces and managed to apprehend a lot of the Orders' as well as other minor terrorist groups key members that continued fighting against Britannia and put them into custody. So it wouldn't make sense if they were to backtrack now when the end was...

Also, that Anya... he was aware that she's quite fast, but he didn't expect that her Mordred was able to divert his FLEIJA from its target and sent it to the sky at the last second. But because of that, the collateral damage from the resulting explosion was far minimal than he could have imagined. That aside, what did that Jeremiah do to him earlier? When that Knightmare of his rammed into him after his FLEIJA bomb was released, he couldn't help feeling a strange tingling in his eyes. And afterwards, he realized his battle reactions was a lot duller than before and taking on Anya and Mordred (not to mention Toudou-sensei) proved to be a lot trickier.

And interesting enough, he wasn't pursued when he retreated from battle to return to the palace. Would that mean that they were aware of something he didn't?

When he returned to the Viceroy's Palace, he could see that the Avalon has already returned. And he could catch a glimpse of the now repaired Imperial Courtyard where Lelouch and Kallen were last seen before they disappeared. Those disappearances... still bothered him until now. While again the situation was similar to what happened prior with Lelouch, there were no signs of either of them returning to battle after that incident. So whether the two of them were dead or alive, nothing was confirmed of their fates. And having that kind of uncertainty... made him a bit wary.

He rushed towards the Viceroy's office since that should be where the one who gave the retreat order would be. So many questions that clouded his mind right now, and as the one who could answer those questions...

_"—wouldn't the **eleventh prince**  be the most suitable person to take charge of her?"_

That wariness that he kept feeling earlier... proved to be correct as he arrived at the Viceroy's office. He wasted no time in making his presence known.

xxx

"Lelouch!"

He couldn't believe his eyes and ears. When he approached the office, he thought that he was imagining it that he heard Lelouch's voice. But when he stepped in, true enough, it was definitely Lelouch sitting at the Viceroy's desk. Lady Cornelia and Lord Schneizel were already inside... as well as Nunnally. But what vexed him more, was why they did nothing to haul Lelouch's ass out of the room?

"Heh!" Lelouch let out a loud groan. "Here comes another annoyance..."

Suzaku glared towards the person.  _What the hell?_

Lelouch glanced towards him idly before looking away, seemingly uninterested in his presence. He turned his attention towards Schneizel before speaking again. "Then, if you're done already brother... shouldn't you dismiss yourself from my presence already? I don't think the prime minister would have any more business in this area, now that I'm here to take care of things."  
  
Schneizel let out a dissatisfied grunt before walking out of the room. But before Schneizel could leave, Lelouch spoke again.

"Wait."

Lelouch turned back towards the Viceroy's desk before turning on the intercoms. A man answered the call as Lelouch announced himself. "Send someone here to escort the Prime Minister out and put him into custody until further notice. Also, find Kanon Maldini and do the same to that man."

"Are you worried, Lelouch?"

Lelouch turned around to face his brother as he shook his head. "No. But I also wouldn't want you to interfere with the things that I'm intending to do. Don't think for once that I'd drop my guards on you."

Schneizel let out a grunt before two security officers walked in and led the man out of the room. As those men left the office, Suzaku walked closer towards Lelouch to get his attention.  
  
"What're you planning, Lelouch? "  
  
Lelouch turned his attention towards him. "It's none of your business," he said before looking away again. Suzaku frowned. For some reason, the way Lelouch was ignoring him was bugging him a lot. How could he, after disappearing for quite some time? And acting so high and mighty now after he returned. Without thinking, Suzaku grabbed Lelouch's neck in a choke-hold with one hand... not letting him walk away. Unable to release himself from his grip, Lelouch could only do much to get himself free.  
  
"Kururugi!" cried Cornelia as he paid her no mind.  _Why did they allow Lelouch to remain here for too long anyway?_  
  
"Unhand me, you brute!" gasped Lelouch as Suzaku kept his hold on Lelouch's neck firmly. Only when Suzaku felt a sharp pain on his leg did he released the former prince. He fell onto the carpeted floor as Suzaku turned to look at his leg. To his surprise, he could see a few spots of red as he realized that the part of his leg that Lelouch kicked had started to bleed. Suzaku frowned before turning his glance towards Lelouch.

 _How the hell did Lelou_ —

Suzaki blinked in disbelief, he couldn't understand what he was seeing. Somehow like him, Lelouch also ended up falling to the floor yet Lelouch looked as if he was in more pain than him. Suzaku frowned as Cornelia rushed over Lelouch and tried to help her brother up. He let out a low growl before preparing to jump on Lelouch. But he stopped himself as Nunnally let out another cry to stop him.  
  
"Please, Suzaku! Don't hurt my brother!"  
  
He was about to object, but then as he turned to look again towards Lelouch and Cornelia as he suddenly noticed that one of Lelouch's legs seemed to move a bit too stiffly. It was then he noticed the metal frame that was attached to one of Lelouch's legs.

xxx

Suddenly Cornelia rushed over to help him up without saying anything. Which was odd considering that the last time he saw her, his sister didn't look like she wanted to have anything to do with him anymore. But his leg had hurt so much for him to care about something like that so he just let her be.

Lelouch doubled over again to the floor as his leg gave out another jolt of pain the moment he was moved.

"...does it hurt too much?" he could hear his sister say, "I'll call for a doctor—"

"No!" he cried out before grasping on Cornelia's arm. "Just get the painkillers... inside the case. Side pocket—!"

Cornelia immediately left his side as he hoped she understood what he tried to say. Sure enough, after a minute... Cornelia came back bringing a glass of water alongside two pills in her palm. He right away downed the pills as the pain on his leg started to become numb. He snorted in distaste.

_"Please don't do anything rash!"_

Lelouch sighed. Kallen probably gonna get mad at him later. But it's not as if he could do anything else to get Suzaku to release him.

He turned to his side to see Cornelia and Nunnally looking very concerned towards him. Not to mention, his eyelids had started to become heavy. Lelouch shook his head to shake the feeling as Cornelia helped him up to his feet. He immediately grabbed his crutch the moment he could reach it.

"You looked pale, perhaps you should take it easy..."

Lelouch shook his head, despite the fact he knew that what Cornelia said to him was right. He was in no state to go walking around now. But, the situation was still far from being completely stabilized and he needed to—His ears caught the sound of approaching footsteps as he turned around to see Anya walking in.

"Mo—Anya! I wasn't expecting you to come here. So, why—"

Anya spared a brief glance towards Suzaku before shrugging. "It was a saving grace that I was around, don't you think? If I haven't diverted that bomb elsewhere, it could have caused far worse devastation to the settlement areas. Including this palace."

Lelouch nodded before reminded of something else. "Oh, and earlier you mentioned that Bismarck was here—"

"Oh yes, your father insisted that I summon him back from the Chinese Federation to help—" she paused, before looking at Lelouch's face worriedly, "—that aside, Lelou... are you all right?"

Lelouch was about to answer her before they were interrupted by the man himself, who has just arrived. Sir Bismarck Waldstein kneeled immediately before introducing himself to Lelouch.

"My lord, I... Bismarck Waldstein is here to pay respect to you. I beg your forgiveness over my tardiness as I have to deal with a problematic knight earlier,"

"I understand, Sir Waldstein—" Lelouch started to say. But whatever else he had wanted to say afterwards ended up unsaid, as Lelouch found himself losing consciousness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Regarding Lelouch's appearance in this chapter, just think about Julius Kingsley's outfit. Cos yes... there's no way I'd neglect using that. 
> 
> That aside, I do seem to have a habit of making Lulu collapse/passed out a whole lot of times in this series, right? Well, I try not to overuse that trope lol but he'll at least have two more episodes on that. But I assure you, I won't keep making him collapse without valid reasons anymore. Hahaha. (Who told him to be so fragile most of the time anyway?)


	15. Calm Before the Storm

"Lelouch!" Kallen cried out, almost as soon as she entered the special quarters that was meant to be used by the Viceroy or the sub-viceroy to rest in the Palace. But as soon as she realized that there were other people inside the room beside Lelouch, Kallen hastily recovered her stance.  
  
Without a word, she walked towards the bed as she checked on her prince.   
  
"You don't need to worry too much. The swelling on his leg has already dissipated and the doctor that checked him prior confirmed that he was fine." Kallen turned around to see Anya walking in from outside.   
  
"What happened?"  
  
"I was told that Lelouch had an impromptu kickball session because someone here insisted on roughing him up needlessly. "  
  
Kallen immediately glared daggers towards Suzaku who had been leaning on the far corner of the room. "Figures. And just when I thought Lelouch was recovering well from his injuries." She eyed the youth angrily, feeling that she needed to show him how dissatisfied she was with him. But then she saw the makeshift bandage on the guy's leg and assumed it was a present from Lelouch. She dropped the thought right away.

She turned to look at the sleeping Lelouch before sighing. "Whatever then. At least he could rest for a bit now. He's been tense ever since we left Pendragon and refused to sleep a wink on our way here,"

"Miss Kallen..." Kallen turned her attention towards the voice as Sayoko came over to pass her a parcel that she had been holding. Cornelia—who had been sitting nearby in silence with Nunnally—almost let out a loud cry as she noticed that the parcel was actually a folded piece of clothing and a mask. To which she recognized right away as parts of the outfit belonging to Zero. Kallen set it aside, as if not bothered to the fact that Cornelia saw it.

"Ka... llen—"

She turned her attention back to Lelouch as the youth started to become awake.

xxx

"I'm sorry..."  
  
"It's okay, I'm not angry."  
  
Cornelia let out a cry of alarm as Lelouch suddenly made a move to sit up—she immediately lent a hand to help him as Lelouch gave her a puzzled look again. Cornelia felt another tinge of hurt in her heart.  
  
Did Lelouch already resign himself to be hated by **her** after having killed Euphie? Was it that strange for her to reveal that she still cared about him?  
  
Lelouch turned his glance towards the red-haired girl again.  
  
"Did you make contact with them? Since you're back here..."  
  
The red-haired girl smiled. "Of course I did. If not, how else could I come back with her?"  
  
The girl cocked her head to her side as Lelouch finally noticed the short-haired Japanese woman that came with the girl. Lelouch smiled in relief.  
  
"Sayoko! I'm glad you're still safe,"  
  
Cornelia glanced at the Sayoko woman curiously as the woman bowed apologetically towards Lelouch.  
  
"I'm glad you're safe as well, Master Lelouch and I'm sorry that I haven't been able to take care of Miss Nunnally all these while."  
  
Cornelia blinked, before turning towards Nunnally who'd just realised that Sayoko was around.  
  
"Sayoko! You're here? I was so worried—!"  
  
Cornelia stared at her sister in surprise as she noted the affectionate tone used when she called the woman. Her mind suddenly recalled the times Nunnally had told her about this 'Sayoko' who always cared for her.  
  
"Sayoko..."  
  
Cornelia turned her attention back towards Lelouch as he held Sayoko's hand gently.

"It's sudden, considering that you've just arrived—" he started to say before looking up towards the woman. "—but can you please resume your original duty of taking care or Nunnally?"

It surprised her to see Lelouch treating a mere Number with such gentleness, yet considering the woman was supposed to be the one the Ashfords assigned to take care of the two siblings she supposed that it was inevitable.

 _"Would that be why Lelouch was inclined to be supportive of the Elevenses' cause?",_ Cornelia wondered as she continued to watch her brother.

"Would you like me to escort Suzaku-san out as well?" said the woman.

"Yes... please," Lelouch spoke softly as the woman nodded her head. Cornelia silently eyed the woman as she walked over to wheel Nunnally out before turning towards Kururugi to usher him out as well. And it was curious that Suzaku complied with the request without much resistance.

That aside, Cornelia couldn't help noticing that Anya, has also decided to join Nunnally and the Sayoko woman without a word.

_"Ne, Cornelia... do you know that Sayoko was also a former ninja? It's amazing how the Ashfords gave Sayoko-san to take care of us like that. Sayoko-san was very nice, she had always taken care of me so well without a fuss!"_

Cornelia couldn't help letting out a smile as she recalled how enthusiastic Nunnally was when telling her about her favourite maid. Supposed her sister did tell her the truth that the woman was a former ninja. To be able to handle Kururugi like that. 

She glanced back towards Lelouch as she wondered about his relationship with Suzaku. Nunnally told her before that they used to be quite close but from earlier observations, she could see that it was no longer so.

_Would it perhaps be... because of what happened to Euphie? But of course._

Still, it was not that hard for her to still notice the look of pain that Lelouch was wearing when he glanced towards Suzaku.

"Now..." Cornelia almost jumped as Lelouch's voice had startled her. She glanced up to see Lelouch staring back at her; his companion, Kallen, still standing by his side.

"I suppose with you still hanging around here there's still something that you wanted to find out from me, huh?" Cornelia nodded briefly as Lelouch let out a long sigh.

"Very well... I'll talk."

xxx

He retraced his steps back towards the assigned quarters for Lelouch; once he managed to escape Sayoko's watch on him and taking note of the time Cornelia left the quarters to avoid any other unnecessary conflicts. Noting that the room wasn't guarded heavily he figured that he should be able to get in and confront Lelouch properly after his failure to do so earlier.  
  
But it turned out that all his plans ended up useless anyway due to Kallen's presence by Lelouch's side.  
  
"What do you want, Suzaku?" Kallen immediately asked as Suzaku readily assumed his defensive stance. He frowned.  
  
"I only come to consult the prince on a matter that I wasn't able to convey earlier. I didn't expect to see you here."  
  
Kallen smiled thinly. And for some reason, he couldn't help noticing how Kallen's mannerisms had started to become like Lelouch's these days. The girl just cocked her head towards her side, where Lelouch had remained asleep.  
  
"As you could see yourself, _His Highness_ was in no condition to consult with you. Perhaps it would be wise for you to leave this place now."  
  
Suzaku scowled at her. So she was here as Lelouch's personal bodyguard. But still, something didn't quite fit in.  
  
"I was wondering why this room hasn't been put on heavy guard. Still, wasn't it improper for a guard like you to be this close to your charge?" he asked directly yet Kallen didn't seem perturbed.  
  
"My relationship with Lelouch was much more than what you assume but it's none of your concern."  
  
Suzaku frowned at her before straightening up.  
  
"Kallen, why are you still with Lelouch? What was it that the two of you were planning?"  
  
Kallen let out a low grunt. "As I said, it's none of your business. Then again, it was something that you probably wouldn't be able to grasp."  
  
Suzaku bit his lips. He never realized that dealing with Kallen would be just as frustrating as dealing with Lelouch himself. How did the two manage to become even more similar to each other during these few months? To think that he used to see her differently while in Ashford before...  
  
"Whatever the two of you were planning, I'd advise for you to stop what you're doing."  
  
Kallen lifted an eyebrow towards him before smiling. "I'm sorry. Even if Lelouch was awake right now our answer would still be the same. Not a chance."  
  
Suzaku groaned loudly. "Argh! WHY ARE YOU GUYS SO STUBBORN?" he snapped before regaining control of his emotions again. "Back off. You two have no place to be here now. Whatever you think you're doing, it's not what Japan really needs!"

Kallen frowned at him. "Then, Suzaku... let me ask you instead, what are you planning instead?"

Suzaku scowled at her, trying to not let her see him flinch.

"Joining the Britannian military, even as far as joining the ranks of the Knights of Rounds, Turning your back from your own country, instead of defending it. As well as fighting your own people who tried their best to regain this country's honour. Was that what you think this country—Japan—really needs from you?"

"Terrorism... would not save this country," Suzaku stated flatly. "Even if you think I betrayed this country just because I joined the Britannian military, you're greatly mistaken. I'm planning to change things from within Britannia. And one day... I'll definitely liberate Japan by my own hands!"

Kallen scoffed at him as Suzaku bit his lips. "You still think that our revolution as terrorism, you say? What a load of bull," she glanced up towards him. "Then Suzaku, tell me... until now, what changes have you achieved for this country's people by your own method?" 

Suzaku continued glaring at her as Kallen frowned. "Unlike the things you did, Zero—Lelouch brought back hope to the Japanese people that we still could do something to make things better. Because of him, the old resistance—the Black Knights—was able to become something more than ragtag fighters picking fights against Britannia. By his own strength, Lelouch was able to convince so many people to stand united for one cause—"

"That was just Lelouch using his power to manipulate people to follow him—! And it was you guys, who had ruin things for this country. If only you guys hadn't interfered with what Euphie was doing—if Lelouch hadn't killed her—things could have turned out differently!"

"You don't know anything of what you're speaking of!" Kallen hissed at him, paying mind not to startle the person beside her awake. "Even if he did use his power to move things around to his advantage, Lelouch never used his powers to force anyone from the Order to serve him blindly."

Kallen bit her lips as she recalled the time when she witnessed the exchange between V.V. and Jeremiah back at Aries Villa; as well as the exchange the immortal had with the Emperor. "And as for the tragedy that happened to the princess, you had no idea of the complete truth of what happened. You had no idea how Lelouch felt having to be **forced** to shoot her..."

xxx

Kallen snorted, as she contemplated on their current situation. She glanced back towards Suzaku, suddenly feeling that she might as well continue with this argument.  
  
"Then again, do humour me... Knight of Seven, Kururugi Suzaku. How on earth are you going to change Britannia, and perhaps save Japan?"  
  
She suddenly wanted to know, and considering how Lelouch had used to try so hard to get Suzaku to turn to their side in the past... she had to know if doing so was worth it. But then again with recent events, even Lelouch had given up on the idea.

Still, it didn't hurt to dig up more of the other's motivation. And a part of her was still miffed at the way Suzaku had been throwing glares towards Lelouch.   
  
"Heh," Suzaku scoffed at her. For a moment she thought he wouldn't take on her bait. But then he started to speak.  
  
"I'm planning to rise in rank in the military. And one day, I might even gain the rights to become the Knight of One. From there on, I should be in the position to make the needed changes!"  
  
Kallen frowned again. Suzaku had looked so serious she felt as if it would be too bad for her to suddenly laugh at him. Though Lelouch probably wouldn't care.  
  
"That's quite... an idealistic plan you got there. Though I can't help thinking that you're just being hopelessly short-sighted."  
  
"What the hell?" Suzaku exclaimed as Kallen let out a snort.  
  
"How vain are you to think that you could become the Knight of One? When you couldn't even get close to gain the Emperor's confidence. Also... you're saying you'll claim Japan once you do, in order to regain its freedom? Do you think that kind of a weak plan was even possible?" Kallen frowned at him. "Did you even have the ability to lead a country? Do you think just you alone would be enough to make Japan prosper again once you reached that point? Who would support you under your leadership? The Britannians? Or did you foolishly think that any Japanese people here would support you just because you became a Knight of One?"

"Did you think the Britannians would even see you any differently just because you've become part of the Rounds? Have anyone in the military at the moment treated you as if you're one of them now?"  
  
Suzaku threw a few more angry glares towards her.  
  
"And you're saying that your way was the better one?"  
  
Kallen smiled bitterly. "I'm not that vain to think that Lelouch's way was much better than you. Since anything could happen regardless of how carefully one plans to make it happen. It could either turn out well or not." She glanced up and stared straight towards Suzaku. "But I had the stronger belief that the one who had the better position to change Britannia was not you. It's Lelouch. Lelouch would be the one to make the changes happen, not you."  
  
Suzaku flinched, as he seemed to struggle with his own words. But then he turned around and left, before closing the door behind him. Kallen let out a soft sigh before feeling a hand gripping her own tightly. She turned to her side to see that Lelouch had stirred awake.  
  
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Lelouch started to say as Kallen leaned down to kiss his forehead.   
  
"Did I wake you up? Sorry, I was trying to keep it low," she said as Lelouch shook his head.  
  
"Anyone would've woken up by that racket that bloke was making."  
  
Kallen snorted. "If he got wind of our plans he might want to get himself involved in this."  
  
"I know, but right now... I don't think I want to allow him to get involved with this. Not anytime soon. Even if Euphie would have wanted me to include him, I just... can't, right now."  
  
Kallen smiled weakly.

_"Even then, a part of you still hoped that you and Suzaku would be able to work together again. Isn't that right, Lelouch?"_

She let out a long sigh. Well, she'll think about what to do with Suzaku when that time comes.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cutting this part into two because it ended up being long. Not really. More like... I still have the other half of this original chapter not completed. So might as well move it to the next part.


	16. Quid est veritas?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ended up expanding the chapter too long again, and pushing forward again the stuff I wanted to do on this chapter. And hey, Nina's back. And I guess this was a better narrative I had for her compared to when I first wrote this series. (I was too biased, back then and my writing still a bit immature.)
> 
> That aside, I forgot how hard was it to write Lloyd's character. Haha.

Kallen ran over towards Lelouch as she saw him walking away towards another section of the building.

"How're things?" he asked just as she finally caught up to him. Kallen just shrugged at him. 

"Cornelia has agreed to send her knights to help out with the release of the Black Knight members and Japanese protestors who were detained at the penitentiary. But they still wouldn't allow the release of the more aggressive detainees to ensure that they don't cause any other commotions."

Lelouch just nodded. "That'll be just fine. We mostly needed the senior members of the Black Knights out anyway, so any other unrelated people wouldn't matter." He turned back towards the direction he was going. "Did you tell Jeremiah to handle his side of things?"

Kallen nodded as they took to another set of stairs downwards. "I did. And I already told the people on Cornelia's side as well."

"Hmm..."

Kallen continued to follow him as they headed towards a door. She caught sight of the label on the door saying 'Science Department' and followed Lelouch inside. It surprised her to see that the 'room' turned out to be some kind of a laboratory and hangar workspace; before noticing Lancelot being kept nearby. She let out a gasp before turning towards Lelouch.

xxx

"This is unthinkable! To think that we would be cut out from our main support at this time!"  
  
Cecile Croomy shook her head at the way Lloyd behaved before turning back towards her work. "Was it really all that bad now, Lloyd? Considering that the actual fate of our Division was still unconfirmed. For all we know, it might just be a change of leadership for now."  
  
Lloyd made a face before turning towards her. "But then this Division was originally started by Lord Schneizel so to have him removed from further involvement with our team should certainly affect our progress. I mean, it shouldn't just affect us but Camelot in general too, don't you think? Don't you agree, Nina?"   
  
Lloyd turned his attention towards their newest addition to the team as the small girl timidly showed her face from behind some stacks of books. The girl fidgeted by herself for a moment before squeaking out a reply.  
  
"About that, Mr Lloyd... I'm not sure if my opinion matters much."  
  
"Ah! But I thought you'd be able to understand my position—I mean, your current project that we're still working on. Won't you hate if you suddenly have to be forced to stop working on it just because of some outside interference? Because honestly I—"  
  
"Concerning that, Lord Asplund... I would have preferred for you to outright come to me to voice out any discontent that you may feel," Lloyd turned around to see a pair of youths descending from the staircase entrance, looking like someone of importance. Particularly the male one, who seemed to exude some kind of aura of nobility despite the eyepatch and walking aids that the person has on him.  
  
The youth smiled. "After all, if a research item proved to be of some use to me, I wouldn't be so cruel myself to stop anyone from further taking a study on it."  
  
Lloyd frowned at the youth, as their arrival haven't been announced beforehand.  
  
"Lelouch?" He turned towards Nina in surprise.

xxx

He turned his attention towards the familiar voice as a part of him felt a tinge of disappointment. He was suspecting it to be Nina's handiwork—that strange bomb from last night's incident—but he was hoping that it was just a mere coincidence. But to see her standing there at the desk just gave him a lot of misgivings.  
  
Nina was still gaping at him before finally noticing the other person who was still standing beside him. "And Kallen too! What're you guys doing here?"  
  
"Nina! Did you know who our guests here?"  
  
Nina turned her attention towards the older blond man before nodding her head rapidly. "Yes, I mean... Lelouch and Kallen were from Ashford like me as well and uh—"  
  
Lelouch turned to face the man as he held out his hand. "Let me just introduce myself anyway. Lelouch vi Britannia, at your service."  
  
"E-eh! Lelouch—I mean, y-your Highness? Y-you're a royalty?"  
  
Lelouch turned his attention back towards Nina before smiling weakly. "Yes, I'm sorry that I've kept this secret from everyone. It was something that I made the Ashfords agree on in order to ensure our safety. Though I would have thought that you'd  figure it out already by now ever since Nunnally was made viceroy of this area."  
  
Nina continued stuttering. "About that—I thought it was just someone similar since there's no mention of you and you'd never leave your sister behind. So if you two were truly related—"  
  
Lelouch snorted at himself.  
  
"But putting that aside," he glanced back towards Nina, as Lelouch recovered his solemn mood. "There's something I needed to ask of you."  
  
He bit his lips. "Last night, Lancelot has fired an odd bomb during the battle. A bomb... that could've caused massive destruction had no one been able to divert its course. Was that bomb, something that you invented?"  
  
Lloyd suddenly exclaimed. "Oh! You must be talking about the FLEIJA! Yes, it was indeed—"  
  
"Nina?" Lelouch pressed, ignoring Lloyd's excited babble as he kept his attention towards Nina.  
  
Nina nodded her head slowly.  
  
"Yes..."  
  
" **Why** did you create it?"  
  
Silence.  
  
"Were you intending it to kill anyone? Some unsuspecting groups of civilians? All of your enemies?"  
  
More silence. Lelouch frowned at her.  
  
"Did you... create a bomb that powerful, just to kill Zero?"  
  
Almost at once, Nina reacted violently at the mention of the name.  
  
"Yes! As long as I could kill that man, I'd be able to avenge Princess Euphemia! No matter what it takes, as long as he's dead!"  
  
Lelouch sighed. "Just to take the life of one man, you'd be willing to take so many other lives that could've been caught by the blast of that weapon you created? Or was it... that you just didn't care about that, as long as you reached your goal?"  
  
Nina continued to stare at him, her eyes slightly wavering. But he could tell what her answer would be even if she didn't say it loud. After all, he was aware of Nina's wariness of Japanese people in general.  
  
Lelouch tried to recall the old incident that Milly used to tell him before. To be honest, when he tried to remember the details of that incident, he couldn't truly blame the girl if she still holds some kind of intense hatred against any Japanese people she'd see.  
  
Still, that didn't justify her creating a weapon of mass destruction that could kill almost everyone who was unlucky enough to stand in its path.  
  
Lelouch closed his eyes in contemplation, before turning towards Kallen.  
  
"Kallen. Give me your gun."

xxx

He was just returning to the laboratory after going around the palace in vain, trying to look for Lelouch. The man was not found with Nunnally, and also not with Lady Cornelia, who seemed to be preoccupied herself with her knights over something. And he couldn't find his former friend amongst the gathering of soldiers; whose leadership and management currently taken over by the Knight of One. He could've gone to ask his fellow other Knights of Round—or just Gino to be honest—to help him, but most of them were already given new assignments by Bismarck. Either to go back to the homeland or resolve a particular situation around the settlements or ghettos, or escorting Luciano back to receive punishment for insubordination.   
  
The palace this morning was somehow quite full of activity, making his efforts all the more challenging. Which was why he ended up heading back to the Science Department since it's the only one not having anything to do. He didn't expect to find _Lelouch_ here out of many places!  
  
To his surprise, he saw Lelouch taking a gun from Kallen before handing it to Nina.  
  
"Shoot me."  
  
Suzaku gasped before running over towards them.  
  
Nina was shaking very badly by now. "Lelouch? What're you saying?"  
  
"Lelouch, what—? Don't tell me the reason you came here was for—"  
  
"Trust me," Lelouch turned to face Kallen before shrugging. "This is something that I have to resolve eventually anyway, one way or another. I might as well do it now. And should anything awry happens, I have you... don't you think?"

"Lelou—!" Kallen cried out as Lelouch turned his attention back towards Nina.   
  
Lelouch glanced towards Nina again. "I said shoot me, Nina. You said that you created this FLEIJA to kill Zero, isn't it? So if you shoot me now you shouldn't have further use of it anymore."  
  
"What're you saying—?" Nina asked again, still confused.  
  
"Lelouch! What're you doing?" Suzaku exclaimed as Lelouch gave him an amused look.  
  
"Here comes another person that wants me dead..." said Lelouch again before addressing Nina again. "So Nina, what're you waiting for? Don't you want to kill the person who killed my sister Euphemia? Then do it now if you can. I'm right here."  
  
"Twice already your inventions had almost killed me, so perhaps right now a third attempt might succeed."  
  
Suzaku hastily turned towards Nina to find her looking aghast. "Wait... Lelouch! Are you saying right now that you're... Zero?"  
  
Lelouch just smiled at her. To Suzaku's alarm, that caused Nina to point the gun shakily towards Lelouch. But before she could fire the gun, Suzaku pushed her arms aside... making her miss her target.  
  
The bullet ricocheted towards the nearby wall, making almost everyone ducked for cover but it still barely grazed the side of Lelouch's left cheek. Realizing in horror of what she'd just did, Nina immediately threw aside the gun as if her hands would burn if she continued holding on to it. Suzaku picked the gun up before giving it back to Lelouch. Lelouch passed the gun towards Kallen without missing a beat.

"What're you thinking—pulling a stunt like that? I thought you had something you needed to do here—or at least that's what Kallen was telling me last night. So what're you doing now, trying to make people kill you?"  
  
Lelouch turned to look at him; his smile never left his face before wiping aside the blood that started to flow from the cut on his cheeks.  
  
"Indeed I did have something that I needed to do here, therefore I shouldn't die prematurely. Yet," And almost in an instant, the smile on Lelouch's lips disappeared as he turned towards Nina. "Still, I do not appreciate people who stupidly create such dangerous things and allowing more idiots having access to such weapon. Just because you wanted to kill one person, to be so willing to take out millions along with it... I would not allow that kind of things happening under my watch."  
  
Lelouch turned towards Kallen. "Have everything related to this FLEIJA confiscated and locked away. I don't want any of these things lying around unguarded for some maniac to use it without care."  
  
"Uhm... that, would not actually be feasible..."

Suzaku turned towards Lloyd as he could sense Lelouch doing the same.  
  
Lloyd just fidgetted, almost in amusement(?) as he walked up towards them. "Because you see, even when the prototype of FLEIJA was only recently being allowed to be used for Lancelot's system for testing, Lord Schneizel had already taken most of the research data with him for further development. So even if you take away everything here—"  
  
Lelouch frowned. "There's still a copy of the research still available somewhere."

Suzaku caught Lelouch's glare intensifying—he even thought he could see a bright glow of Lelouch's Geass from underneath his eyepatch as he spoke—while addressing Lloyd. "Would it be possible that my brother had already started building something in secret that would use this FLEIJA system as its main arsenal?"

"Perhaps, I wouldn't put it past the man. Though, with the current situation at hand, I wonder if that project would still continue."

Lelouch straightened up, as Suzaku wondered what was in his mind. "That won't do. To think that the Prime Minister would be doing something like this right under the Emperor's watch. But then, perhaps this matter had not been that pressing to him back then..."

Suzaku watched Lelouch took something from inside of his overcoat. His eyes widened as he saw his old friend pull out the royal sceptre—Suzaku berated himself right away for being surprised since he should've noticed that Lelouch had the sceptre already since last night—and pointed it towards Lloyd.

"I suppose that you should understand that my next order would be the same as if coming directly from the Emperor, don't you?"

"Yes... yes, your Highness. What do you need me—our science team—do for you?" Lloyd immediately answered as Lelouch lowered the sceptre from his face.

"Create something that could neutralize the effect of the FLEIJA if it was being used. I would not allow something like this threaten the safety of this Area 11, Britannia or any other part of this world. I assure you that doing this would be a great service to the Holy Britannian Empire."

Lloyd and Cecile bowed as they accepted the order. "But of course..." Lloyd spoke again, "we would also have a need for Miss Einstein's assistance. Since she was the one who have greater mastery in the technology she created herself,"

"Of course."

Lelouch turned around and walked towards Nina, who was still kneeling on the floor out of shock. Putting the royal sceptre aside, Lelouch started to lower himself—with Kallen's help—as he attempted to talk to Nina. 

"I would not mince words with you," said Lelouch as Nina slowly looked up towards him. "I expect you to provide your full cooperation in creating a countermeasure to the dreadful weapon that you've created. Because I assure you... that this bomb was not something that my sister would've wanted to be created, regardless of whether or not it was done in her name."

Suzaku frowned, as he eyed Lelouch warily.

"Unless... you intended to add more to Euphie's massacre princess's reputation. To be fair, regardless of my past actions towards her, I don't want to further tarnish her original good-natured reputation than I already have."

Nina immediately stiffened over those words as Lelouch stood up, his expression remained cold.

"After this is all over; if you still want to take my life as revenge for killing Euphie, you're welcome to try again. Until then, I expect that you'll keep your end of the bargain."

xxx

Lelouch turned towards Kallen and was about to tell her to follow him before noticing a hint of red behind Lancelot. He walked up towards the Knightmare before pulling down the canvas covering of the machine that was placed behind it. Kallen let out a loud gasp.

"My Guren!"

He turned towards Lloyd Asplund again. "Oh, and Lord Asplund? If it was of no bother for you, could you please have this Knightmare boarded onto the Great Britannia? Since this machine was originally made for my person, I'd prefer to have it returned to its original owner."

"T-that... could be arranged, your Highness!" Lelouch gave the speaker an amused look, as the woman standing beside Lloyd replied instead. 

"Very well. Let's go... Kallen."

 

It was after they have gone quite a distance from the laboratory when Kallen had stopped him in his tracks.

"Are you all right, Lelouch?"

Lelouch turned to face her as Kallen gave him a look of concern. "I'm fine. To be honest, I'm not expecting to be forgiven for the things I've done. And as for the matters regarding Nina, I might as well face her grudge head-on before anything much worse could've started. I'd rather she directed her anger towards me rather than blindly hurt the masses, just because she had no idea of the true identity of Zero."

He shrugged at her. "That aside, it doesn't mean I would just let her kill me without a fight."

Kallen let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank goodness. Because you got me a bit nervous back there..."

Lelouch smiled weakly. "I'm sorry to alarm you," he said before taking a deep breath. "That aside, I wonder if my father was already aware of what my brother was doing before..."

Kallen frowned. "What do you mean?"

He turned towards Kallen. 

"'A ruling based on fear'... you remembered what he said before when we were in the world of C. Somehow, I couldn't help thinking that my father was referring to the things that Schneizel was doing. If he had always been aware of the things I was doing here as Zero all these while, what was the odds that he would be unaware of the things that were going on right under his own nose? Even when he's been leaving most of the state matters to Schneizel, he should have still had his eyes and ears monitoring everything that concerned the empire. And knowing about my brother's plan... and weighing that against his own plan, I wouldn't be surprised if he thought that Ragnarok was the better option."

Kallen bit her lips. 

"This could be bad...", she started to say as Lelouch nodded.

"Indeed. Even if we had Schneizel under custody right now, that's no guarantee that there wouldn't be any untoward incidents happening in the future. And we also have my _uncle_ to worry about..."

"What... are you talking about? What's that about Ragnarok?"

Both Lelouch and Kallen turned around to see Suzaku staring back at them. Lelouch just sighed.

"That was something that shouldn't be of any concern for you. It would've been better if you'd just concentrate on the tasks that were assigned to you. Or whatever it was that Bismarck saw fit to assign to you."

"Can't you just tell me what's going on, Lelouch? I've had it with all the excuses you gave to me." 

Lelouch frowned, as he thought he could detect a hint of desperation in Suzaku's voice. And for a moment, he thought he saw a familiar light in his old friend's eyes... that wasn't quite like the one he'd seen Suzaku thrown at him lately ever since Euphie's death. He shook his head at the thought, as it was most likely his own imagination playing tricks on him.

"As I said... it doesn't concern you," he said with an air of finality before taking his leave.


	17. Vero Nihil Verius

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for not updating this fic for so long. Then again, people barely comment on the last few recent chapters I posted so I didn't really feel the urgency to update people on stuff. (And no, asking me about when new chapter coming out doesn't count).
> 
> I was stuck at the near-end part of this chapter, and then those other D:BH muses come along. Trying to write Ohgi's confrontation against Lulu is hard. And then, just as I almost completed it, I got a different idea in mind and that lead to another slump. Hopefully, I haven't missed anything in the edits, but do tell if there was anything I missed in this chapter that sounds out of place.

Kallen wrapped the long white scarf around Lelouch's neck and was about to pin it neatly together—before he hastily loosened it back, as if in a reflex reaction. She frowned as she thought she saw a momentary flash of panic in his eyes.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
Lelouch shook his head hastily, before turning away from her. "I don't—I dunno. Suddenly I can't help feeling a bit suffocated, having this thing too tightly around my neck."  
  
Kallen continued frowning, before running her hand over Lelouch's exposed neck. For a moment, she thought of something that she'd noticed, back during the time when they were still in Pendragon. A slight bruising—on Lelouch's _neck_ —that she couldn't figure out how it came to be. Because falling pieces of cement and rocks couldn't have made the kind of impression on his neck like that. She dismissed further thoughts about the bruisings back then and those bruising had receded away in the few months when Lelouch was bedridden so she had almost forgotten about it. It was to a point that the thought didn't cross her mind when she dressed Lelouch elaborately later on, which included putting a cravat on him.  
  
Back then Lelouch hadn't expressed any discomfort over it—and he had no problem with it before, considering he often wore the scarf around his neck as Zero—so having him saying something like this now out of the blue was certainly unexpected. But then she recalled asking Cornelia last night about what actually happened that made Lelouch kick Suzaku with his injured leg. Her reply made her angry, to be honest. Because as much as she expected Princess Euphemia's death would've strained Lelouch and Suzaku's relationship pretty badly, she didn't expect that Suzaku would grab Lelouch by the neck so suddenly like some kind of livestock.  
  
No... that's not right, she thought hastily. It **would've** made sense for Suzaku to fall into a murderous rampage at Lelouch after everything that happened. And Suzaku was the kind of guy that acted without thinking.  
  
No, what she couldn't believe was that; considering how close he and Lelouch used to be, how could the guy so easily throw everything aside and not hesitate to cause great harm on Lelouch without remorse? Even Lelouch, right after finding out that Lancelot's pilot was Suzaku; had on few occasions hesitated in giving orders to the Black Knights in the past, fearing that he could potentially hurt his friend. To the point that Lelouch would have endangered his own life for Suzaku's sake.  
  
_And Lelouch had been quite vindictive towards Lancelot's pilot for interfering too often with the Black Knights prior to him finding out that it was Suzaku._  
  
Kallen blinked. Yet, come to think... from the way Cornelia's description of last night's incident, what Suzaku did was just putting Lelouch in a choke hold—yet Lelouch's reaction to it was pretty strong. As if something similar to it had happened to him before to trigger a response...  
  
Kallen froze as she immediately thought back about the bruise that she noticed before.  
  
_Did Suzaku... tried to strangle Lelouch before? That should be prior to the time when she had stumbled onto Lelouch back then at this same palace. Since that should be the only time when something like that could happen._  
  
Back then, she didn't get a good look at Lelouch's injuries during their short stay at the detention cell so she might have missed seeing the bruising at that time. Would that be the reason for Lelouch to suddenly have this reaction? He might not have remembered it himself but last night must have triggered something deep in his memories...  
  
"Kallen?"  
  
Kallen shook herself back to her senses, before turning back towards Lelouch. She gave him a light kiss on the forehead before fixing Lelouch's scarf again, wrapping it a bit more loosely around his neck than before.   
  
She stepped back for a bit, taking another look at the outfit Lelouch was wearing. Prior to heading back to Japan, she grabbed the few parts of Lelouch's Zero outfit that he was wearing during their escape from the detention cell. She thought that they might need it, even if they're still missing Zero's mask and cape... as those had been left at the battlefield. When she came back to Ikaruga she had a mind to just ask for a spare—since Lelouch told her that he always got plenty of spares for his outfit, in case anything happened. Like, say, if he'd lost one or torn it. But then she found out that Sayako had retrieved Lelouch's broken mask and bloodied cape from the last battlefield—to prevent people to make use of those items—so she just took the cape and a spare mask back to the palace.  
  
It might have been better if they just trash the damaged costume and use a fresh set altogether; but in order for Lelouch to face the Black Knights again, they needed to get the others to believe that Lelouch was indeed the real Zero. And not just some imposter who tried to make use of Zero's disappearance to impersonate him. Or any other reason.  
  
_Yet, to have Lelouch finally revealing his identity to the others after all these times..._  
  
Early on, Kallen would have been thrilled to learn about the identity of the man who called himself Zero. To finally gain his trust enough for him to be comfortable to show them his true appearance and identity. Yet now, knowing that Lelouch was once a discarded Britannian prince who came out from hiding to lead their rebellion against his own country... she wondered if the others would be able to still accept him as their leader as she did.  
  
_What if they don't? What if... after finding out the truth, the members of the Black Knights treat Lelouch as an enemy? Or even herself... as one? Would she be able to bear with the thought of having the Black Knights as her enemy?_  
  
Kallen shook her head again. No, she would not back down now. She told herself that she would be supporting Lelouch until the end, so if it had to come to it—!  
  
"Don't worry..."  
  
Kallen glanced back towards Lelouch, whose eyes did not quite reflect the confidence of the words he'd just uttered to her.  
  
_"Don't worry... it'll be all right."_  
  
She bit her lips before leaning over towards Lelouch.   
  
_Things better not start to go wrong now..._  
  
xxx  
  
Kallen turned her attention towards Zero, as she looked at him pausing before the door. Beyond the door, most of the Black Knight members were waiting for him. And this meeting would mark either a new beginning for Lelouch... or the end. Whether or not Lelouch would be able to pave a path to the future he wanted to create, lies in the outcome of this meeting.  
  
She was aware of how risky this decision would be for him, therefore she was able to understand his hesitation. She was feeling the same way after all. Perhaps her earlier nervousness had started to catch up to him now.  
  
Kallen walked over to his side and gently reached out to hold his hand. Lelouch jumped in response, before turning his face towards her. Even without seeing his expression underneath his mask, she could tell that he was grateful for her support as he squeezed her hand tightly.  
  
"This is it," Zero's voice resounded from the mask as Kallen nodded.  
  
Both of them took a deep breath, as Zero stepped forward to open the door...  
  
xxx  
  
The whole room was instantly in an uproar the moment Zero and Kallen entered the room, and just as immediately went quiet as two other people came into the room as well and joined them. Right away, Jeremiah rushed to their side as Toudou and Ohgi stepped forward.  
  
"I thought this meeting was between you and us, Black Knights," said Ohgi right away. "Why were those _two_  here as well?"  
  
Zero turned his attention towards Cornelia and Sir Bismarck Waldstein, the Knight of One before facing Ohgi and the others again. "Their presence here was needed for a special reason, in which I would also explain later. And while you haven't voiced it out yet, I'm sure you would also want to inquire as to why Kallen and I arrived here on the Emperor's own flagship."  
  
Ohgi took a step back as Zero caught him off-guard before nodding. "I'm glad you're aware of that concern of mine as well."  
  
Zero turned his attention towards Toudou. "And I supposed that you also had your own inquiries as well from the moment I sent Jeremiah and his men to aid you. You must've been wondering why a former Britannian officer would come to side with you and aid you in releasing the Black Knights member that has been held captive by the Britannian military."  
  
Toudou nodded stiffly. "That is correct. Regardless, I'd like to express my gratefulness for the aid given. Even if it greatly confused me... especially with the interference of Britannian's own Knight of One and Six."  
  
Zero nodded, before addressing the rest of them. "Before that, I'd like to express my humble apologies, for my prolonged disappearance from the battlefield. Many things have happened during that period and in the process... affected my personal circumstances as well as my reasons as to why I started this fight. As a result, it led me to decide on the course of action that I would take from now on."  
  
"And that would be—?" Ohgi asked as Zero turned to face him.  
  
"Patience... Mr Ohgi. Before that, I'd like to do something. Long ago, I once said that there might be a time when I feel that I could reveal my true identity to all of you. Well, I guess... that moment would be now."  
  
Zero reached out towards his mask as he gently activated the release mechanism.  
  
xxx  
  
Kallen turned her attention immediately towards Lelouch, as he started to take off his Zero mask. Almost at once, the Black Knights members started talking aloud to each other before Ohgi shouted towards all of them to quiet down.  
  
"A young boy?" he asked, as Lelouch gave him a weak smile before setting his mask aside.  
  
"You!"  
  
Ohgi turned his attention towards Toudou, who was now frowning towards Lelouch's direction.  
  
"Let me properly introduce myself then..." Lelouch started to speak again as everyone turned their attention towards him.  
  
"My name... is Lelouch vi Britannia, the eleventh son of Emperor Charles zi Britannia. I'm also Zero, the one who _formerly_ calls himself Britannia's worst enemy."  
  
The room was silent for a moment before Ohgi stepped out.  
  
"So..." Ohgi spoke out right away, "—was this why you've hidden your identity before when we first met? Because you're actually an **Imperial Prince** of Britannia?"  
  
Ohgi frowned as the boy nodded his head. "Yes. And it was also due to the fact that I'm a Britannian as well."  
  
Lelouch gave a brief glance towards Kallen before continuing to speak. "Even when you had Kallen as one of your members, I doubt that you'd freely allow yourself to work together with me if I told you who I was."  
  
"You bet I won't—!" Ohgi started to cry out before Toudou stopped him from continuing.  
  
xxx  
  
Toudou frowned. Something that Lelouch said earlier kept bugging his mind.  
  
"You call yourself as one who was formerly Britannia's worst enemy. Was that supposed to mean what I _think_ you're saying?"  
  
He could see the boy clenched his hands on his sides before speaking. Possibly to steel himself for whatever he would be doing after this.  
  
"Yes, you're not wrong." Lelouch lifted his face towards them. "But let me explain myself first. While in the past I do indeed bore a great deal of hatred towards Britannia, certain circumstances later led me to reconsider my options."  
  
"Certain circumstances?" Toudou asked, "What did you mean?"  
  
"I was injured... and later was found by my older brother who took me into custody." Lelouch glanced up towards them. "When Kallen had found me and got caught alongside, the two of us tried to escape together with C.C.'s aid. But that didn't end up too well."  
  
Suddenly, Toudou recalled his memories back when Zero's group approached Kyoto back then. He remembered how the elders had expressed doubts regarding their alliances—until that time when Lord Kirihara requested a private audience with Zero. And then afterwards—he gasped in realization—Lord Kirihara had changed his mind and readily accepted Zero's proposal to ally with them at that time!  
  
**_"The flower planted eight years ago has begun to bloom..."_ **  
  
That time... he remembered how Lord Kirihara said those words right after meeting Zero in private. He had wondered what those words had meant back then... but completely forgotten about it later on. Did that mean that Lelouch revealed himself to Lord Kirihara back then? Was that the reason the man could place his trust towards the masked man who called himself Zero?  
  
Someone suddenly pushed him aside as Toudou glanced down to see Kaguya standing beside him.  
  
"What happened to you, Ze—Lelouch-sama? Kallen said before that you'd explain what happened to you back then. What happened to you these past few months?"  
  
Toudou turned back towards Lelouch as the youth now had a look of surprise on his face. As if Lady Kaguya's words had completely taken him by surprise. He glanced back towards the little girl before smiling weakly. Then again, Lady Kaguya has met the young prince before... however briefly. And he did notice that Zero has always regarded her kindly before.  
  
"K-Kaguya...?" Toudou turned to look at Lelouch again as the prince kept stuttering. "Y-you... you didn't mind it... after finding out who I am?"  
  
For a brief moment, Toudou thought he saw a sign of vulnerability from the prince... that he never saw being shown by Zero. Before, he always thought that he hated that 'illusion' of Zero being almost perfect. It made him suspicious... and wary of him since that could always be faked. Yet a part of him had also envied how Zero had always seemed confident in every action that he took and how the other members of the Order of the Black Knights clung to that 'strength'. Was it because of the mask... and costume, that allowed this young prince to be able to convince so many people to join his cause. Or was there something more?  
  
Before he could ponder about it any longer, there was a sudden movement by his side as Lady Kaguya suddenly rushed over towards the prince before Toudou could do anything to stop her.   
  
xxx  
  
"What're you talking about now, Lelouch-sama? Of course, I wouldn't mind!" Kaguya cried again as Lelouch almost fell backwards in surprise.

Kaguya cocked her head towards him, "That aside, what happened to you and Kallen back then? When C.C. had asked our help to create a diversion to save you, we expected to see her come back later with you and Kallen safe! But you didn't! We've been so distraught all these time... not sure if you're even still alive!"  
  
Lelouch blinked at her rapidly before letting out a weak smile. He took in Kaguya's hand before addressing her gently, the way he used to before as Zero. Just as he was about to speak, he briefly glanced up towards the Black Knights members before turning towards Kaguya again.  
  
"I got hurt again while trying to escape," he explained, chuckling slightly as if just realizing how silly it was for him to keep getting injured repetitively. "I got hurt even worse back then... and somehow, Kallen and I were taken back to Pendragon by someone who was not related to my older brother."  
  
Lelouch sighed again. "Kallen told me that I was unconscious for months... and when I woke up afterwards, it took a while for me to regain my strength." He glanced up again, this time staring straight towards Toudou and Ohgi. "During that time, I managed to find the answer that I have always wanted to find out—most of it being the reason on why I decided to fight against Britannia. And—"  
  
The youth suddenly made a long pause. And for some reason, it felt like the air around them had started to grow very heavy...  
  
xxx  
  
Lelouch suddenly felt as if the last of his masks had been stripped away from him, and it made him feel vulnerable. But suppose, if he really wanted the rest of the Black Knight to continue following him in earnest... he should start by unravelling his lies and revealing his truth.  
  
_"If you wanted to create a more truthful world, you should've started by becoming truthful yourself!"_  
  
Lelouch smiled bitterly as he recalled his own words that he hurled towards his father. Those words... he shouldn't forget any of it. Or else, he would be no different than his father. To whom he wanted to prove to the world that he was not. He'd do much better than what Charles zi Britannia could think up. He'd show the world what Lelouch vi Britannia could do by his own strength.  
  
"I've started this fight initially in order to protect the people I cared about from Britannia. To create a safe and peaceful world where my loved ones could live in. At first, it only extends to just freeing Japan. Since my sister and I had grown to consider this country as more our home than Britannia." He glanced up towards everyone.  
  
Lelouch took in a long breath before continuing. "Yet, during the time of my stay back in Pendragon... something changed. I came to find out the truth behind my father's motivations; the real truth behind the lies he conjured in wanting to shape this world in his design. The true world that he wanted to achieve. The kind of world that he _originally_ wanted to create... _in order to protect his precious children_ ,"  
  
He swayed slightly to his side as Kallen caught him. "I won't defend my father, for the things he did to the world until now. Nor would I justify his actions. But once I've found out the truth, I told him that I'd find another way to achieve the kind of world that he—the kind of world that I wanted to achieve." Lelouch chuckled. "I dared him that I could do better than him. That I'll find a different way to achieve my wish—one that wouldn't require such extreme measures."

Lelouch paused, before continuing. "I told him if I could prove to him that my way was better, that he should abandon his plans. Surprisingly, my father accepted the challenge... and left it all to me. It still meant that I would have to confront the rest of my siblings to achieve my goals. Even then..."  
  
Lelouch turned his attention towards Toudou and Ohgi.  
  
"As much as I wanted to do all that, I couldn't do it _alone_. That is why I'm here, in front of you," Lelouch took in another long breath.  
  
"I, Lelouch vi Britannia, would like to beg you all... to entrust your hopes and beliefs in me. All of you, men and women of the Order of the Black Knights, I beseech you. I need your help... and _strength_."  
  
xxx  
  
"Before that, there's something that I wanted to make sure."  
  
Kallen turned her attention towards Ohgi warily. _"This couldn't be good",_ she thought.  
  
Ohgi had suddenly gotten very serious. While normally Kallen didn't really mind it when he was like that, at this moment... she couldn't be too sure. And right now her instincts for wanting to protect Lelouch went on an overdrive. So if Ohgi decides to mistrust them... or whether his time in Britannian captivity had affected him so much, all that might jeopardize the things that Lelouch would want to achieve. And she can't allow that to happen.  
  
"What is Geass?"  
  
Suddenly, Kallen felt as if all the air inside her lungs had been sucked out of her. 

_How?_

_**Why** did Ohgi know about Geass?_  
  
A sudden intake of breath from her side made her turn as Lelouch let out a long sigh. Suddenly, a horrid thought popped into her mind.

_No! Lelouch won't! He shouldn't—!_

Kallen held out her arm in front of the Britannian prince to stop him from doing anything rash. But before she could speak, Lelouch grabbed her arm and pushed it down gently.  
  
Kallen glanced back at him worriedly as he smiled weakly at her. Kaguya gave them a confused look, as Kallen belatedly regretted the fact that she didn't try to explain things to the girl much earlier.  
  
"It's okay. I almost expected this to be brought up anyway, sooner or later," said Lelouch, as Kallen shook her head at him vainly. He turned his glance towards Ohgi.  
  
"Geass. It's a supernatural ability that could be bestowed on someone by people who had the power to give it to them. Depending on the person, their Geass abilities would manifest differently according to their wishes. You may also think of it, as a form of wishes made into a power to affect the world."  
  
Kallen could see Ohgi flinched at the explanation. "Then... did you have this Geass ability?"  
  
Kallen could feel her heart racing again as Lelouch let go of her hand and reached out towards his eye-patch. The moment Lelouch lifted the piece of embroidered cloth to reveal the eye underneath, everyone who could see it let out a loud cry of surprise. Lelouch dropped his hand as the eye-patch covered his left eye again.  
  
"Did you hear about Geass from my brother?"  
  
Ohgi was frowning.  
  
"So it was true. You **have** the power of Geass."  
  
xxx

Lelouch glanced up toward Ohgi again.

"So, are you going to ask what was the power of my Geass? What could my Geass do to others?

Ohgi gritted his teeth at the taunt but remained silent. Lelouch snorted, before letting out another sigh.

"Absolute obedience," Ohgi felt himself jump as Lelouch spoke again. "That was my Geass ability."

Ohgi glanced up to face the young man directly. So it's true. Zero— _Lelouch_ —had the power to make people obey his command. He could not believe it when he first found out about it—but here the 'prince' admitted that very fact. So what Chigusa—Viletta said to him before was true. What he heard in passing when that Prince Schneizel came to visit the prisoners during the past months, had been the truth! And all these time he had been trying to convince himself that all of those accusations was just the man's attempt to sway him into betraying his own people!

_Did Zero... really used him and the rest of the Japanese people all these times? As mere pawns? Was that what all of this had been?_

xxx

"Is that all that you wanted to know?"

Lelouch could see a slight twitch coming from the man, yet Ohgi did not respond to his words. Neither was the rest of the core Black Knight members standing behind Toudou and Ohgi. All of them remained in silence. Lelouch felt something pricked from inside of his heart.

To be fair, he was aware of another unspoken question that should now be inside of all these people's minds. Whether or not he had used his Geass on all of them to make them trust him whole-heartedly. Lelouch knew the answer, of course, since he has never done it. Never forced any of them to obey him or served him mindlessly. That was something that he was sure would be used by his older brother to instil doubts in the Black Knights to work against him. Lelouch knew that he could always defend himself against that accusation if he wished it, but he refused to voice it aloud.

Because he thought that his Black Knights should know the truth much better than himself. They _all_ should know better. All these times, even if he'd never allowed any of them to get any closer to him than needed, he thought he had done all he could to gain the trust from his men. He'd shown them what he thought of his own justice, he'd let them know his own sense of honour and principles. To think that despite all of that, that Ohgi or any of the others could believe that he'd stoop so low...

Was he wrong? Had he not already gained his people's trust so much that one mere seed of doubt was enough to shatter all of the foundations of beliefs his people had for him? Was the trust he thought he had from all of his _knights_... a mere illusion?

Were Zero's past deeds amount so little to them now? Did Zero worth nothing to them now... now that it was revealed that Zero was actually Lelouch vi Britannia?

Was his own belief towards these people... _unjustified?_

Lelouch closed his eyes as he drew another long breath to steel himself.

"So I'm saying this again to all of you." He glanced up again, towards the people that he used to lead as Zero. "Would all of you... continue to help and support me, as all of you had done for me in the past?"

xxx  
  
The silence continued to resound in the room they were in before Lelouch let out a long sigh. No one gave him an answer. Kaguya looked as if she was willing to join him, yet from her expression, he knew that she felt that she had no rights to speak up and claim to represent all of the Black Knights standing before her. She couldn't force the others to do anything as much as he himself could not.  
  
"I guess... this is my cue to leave," he said before turning around to leave. Kallen hastily grabbed his arm to stop him.  
  
"You're giving up?" she asked, before turning to give Ohgi an ugly glare.   
  
Lelouch just shrugged at her. "I've done what I came here to do, so it's _fine_. We just have to find another way." he turned towards Bismarck. "Looks like you could complete your mission sooner than planned. After I've settled the remaining issues with Area 11's management we'll return to Pendragon."  
  
Bismarck bowed to him. "Yes, your Highness. I'll make the preparations for our return. "  
  
xxx  
  
Ohgi was suddenly hit with a wave of doubt as he heard Lelouch's unexpected response. He'd thought that maybe the kid would lash at him for betraying the trust the youth have had given to the Order as Zero. He thought that the youth would start going on his knees to convince them to continue serving him as they used to when they only knew him as Zero.  
  
But Lelouch did nothing and walked away, saying nothing... much less send any kind of chastise towards them. It caused the guilt inside him to gnaw on him, after everything they put on the youth's shoulders.  
  
Zero had given his all to help and lead them towards victory and they used him shamelessly. Yet at the time Zero requested for their sincere support while finally revealing his identity, they betrayed his trust. Just because of the possibility of a power that may or may not be forced onto them.  
  
"You guys are really such idiots!" he glanced up to see Kallen staring at them angrily. "If Lelouch really used his Geass on you lots we wouldn't even have this exchange!"  
  
Ohgi gasped as those words finally reached him. And it only started to register in his mind right now as he stared at Lelouch—Zero's _worn_ outfit. He could barely notice the hint of old stains on the cape and trousers, but he could still make out the small parts on the outfit that looked as if it had been burnt on the edges. And he'd heard about that incident that happened prior to Zero's disappearance.

"Your Highness, let me carry you back. You must've been _fatigued_ by now..."

The exchange was barely heard from his side, yet the implication of those words hit Ohgi's hard inside his heart.

xxx

Lelouch realised the truth of Jeremiah's words even before the man voiced the concerns out. Still, _that_... irritate him so much.

"I'm fine—!" he started to say before Lelouch felt his legs losing their strengths suddenly. Everyone around him let out a cry as Jeremiah caught him and lifted his frail body into their arms. If not for the frequency of Jeremiah doing this in the past, he would've felt self-conscious to be seen like this by the others.  
  
"I can still _walk_ on my own," he tried to protest before Cornelia stopped him. The worried look that Cornelia wore on her face right now was the same as in the past. He still couldn't fight against that.  
  
"Very well... let's go,"  
  
"Wait!"  
  
Lelouch glanced up as Jeremiah turned around to allow him a better look at the person who spoke. It was Toudou, as Lelouch noted as well that Ohgi seemed to be at lost for words.  
  
Yet, before he could say anything in reply Lelouch felt himself falling back to sleep.

xxx

Cornelia stepped forward immediately as the other man straightened up in response.  
  
"What is it that you want to say?"  
  
Toudou's eyes flickered towards Kaguya and Lelouch, before turning towards Ohgi and the others behind him.  
  
"I feel that we still had more things to discuss. We can't just leave things unresolved like this," said the man.  
  
Cornelia frowned. "Are you saying that you're considering my brother's request?"   
  
The man just shrugged. "I'm not entirely enthusiastic about this..," Cornelia immediately noted that Toudou gave another look towards Lelouch, "... but that kid had done a lot of things for this country's people in the past, and I trusted him back then."  
  
Toudou heaved another sigh. "I suppose, this time I should return the favour back after all he's done for us before."  
  
Cornelia smiled. Perhaps she should expect this from the man who once prevailed against the Britannian army by his own strength during the last invasion. This is probably why Lelouch had enlisted him as part of his Black Knights, and why her brother still wants _him_ and the others to continue supporting him now.  
  
_Lelouch had chosen his people wisely..._  
  
Cornelia turned her glance towards her brother, who's now blissfully asleep in Gottwald's arms.  
  
"I suppose we could stay here a bit longer. After all, this was the reason that child had come back to this land."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been rereading/rewatching xxxHolic in the past few weeks and randomly realised that I've been unconsciously channelling Watanuki thru Lelouch (at the rate that he kept getting hurt atm). Well, I'll try not to overdo that. XD


	18. Tainted Truth

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been a while since I've been accumulating drafts for Sun's latter chapters lol. So yes, this chapter was made from scratch since the last update. Some of the parts were originally meant for Afterimage but well... I could always reorder them around.

The door behind her opened and closed gently without any commotion, as footsteps slowly approached her. The woman smiled coyly before turning around to greet her guest.  
  
"Heh, I've been wondering when will it be before you finally coming to fetch me," she said before flicking her long hair aside. "It was you, wasn't it? The one that came before? While it made sense for you to take Lelouch away with you, I didn't think that recovering him had been your original intention."  
  
C.C. chuckled to herself before turning her attention towards the pink-haired lady. "Did you get some scolding from Charles?"  
  
The 'young' lady in question just shrugged the words off. "The plan has changed. Now it's up to Lelouch to decide what the future would be."  
  
C.C. paused mid-step, just as she was about to pour herself some water. She turned around completely to face Anya. "What did you mean?"  
  
Anya let out a snort towards her. "Shouldn't you already be anticipating this? Who else would've had a closer chance to be of any influence to that child of mine? Other than you?"  
  
C.C. rolled her eyes at the woman before taking a seat on a nearby couch. "I wouldn't dare take too much credit on the things that person chose to do or live by. Besides, rather than placing the blame to me, shouldn't _you_ and Charles be the main culprit? After all, if not because of everything that happened in the past few years, _his_ life would've taken a different path."  
  
Anya sent her another accusing glance before looking away. She sighed. "Perhaps, you were right. That child could have had a different life **—** a much _happier_ life **—** if not of the choices that Charles and I made. But to think, that Lelouch would decide to take the _hardest_ path possible..."  
  
"Did he found out... about the plan?"  
  
Anya nodded. "Yes, and somehow... Lelouch managed to convince Charles to find another way. Rather than continuing with Ragnarok."  
  
C.C. continued grinning towards her. "Are you sure? Was it not also because you've decided to side with your own child? I honestly couldn't imagine that man to change his mind so easily, even if it _did_ involve his _most treasured_ son," she said again before frowning.  
  
"Still, changing the plan... have that person also agreed to this decision?"  
  
"How could you think he would?" Came the harsh reply. Anya frowned at the thought. "Originally, it was because of his interference that things turned out like this. If V.V. didn't try to attack me... or harm the children, we would've ended up using a different approach to shape our worlds. And it's not as if the plan was even _halfway_ done, despite these many years. It wouldn't be a complete loss if we were to abandon it."  
  
C.C. smiled. "So you're really serious about this."  
  
Anya shrugged. "Of course. Or else why would I even allow my child to be out and about in his current state?"  
  
C.C. turned her glance upwards towards the ceiling. "So he's up there, isn't it? You sure if it's fine for you to be here and not with him?"  
  
"Lelouch would be fine without me. After all, he had some good people by his side supporting him."  
  
C.C. let out another snort. "You're such a doting parent, aren't you?" She took a sip from her glass of water before pausing. "You shouldn't drop your guards though. There's no telling what V.V. would do in response to this. "

Anya nodded. "I know. But that's why we're here to watch over the child."

xxx

Ohgi entered his personal cabin as the woman waiting inside turned around to greet him.

"So, how is it?"

He let out a shrug. "He admitted it. The kid didn't seem to even want to deny the fact that he had such power. " Ohgi took a seat on a nearby chair. "Regardless, he still wanted to ask for the Order to continue supporting his cause."

Viletta snorted before coming over to sit across the man. "Really? And what did you decide to do? What will the rest of you do? Continue serving him? Have you even ask if he had anything to do with the SAZ massacre?"

Ohgi frowned at her. "We haven't decided on anything yet!" he exclaimed. "And regarding that massacre... I don't think it's wise to suddenly spring it out into the open with everyone present."

Viletta let out a dissatisfied groan as Ohgi continued. "And there's still a lot of questions that remained unanswered. As in, why Lelouch had come bearing the flag of the Emperor's. Or the fact that even Princess Cornelia and the Knight of One accompanied them." He glanced up towards her. "And Kallen's right. If Lelouch had used his Geass to control everyone in the Order, none of us would even think to question his action as we did right now!"

Viletta immediately slammed her hands on the table in front of her before standing up. "HOW COULD YOU EVEN KNOW THAT! I didn't even _remember_ being put under Geass but it still happened. And I still remembered how Sir Jeremiah had been made to do things that he didn't intend to, and it's the same case with him afterwards! And if you think that person was not capable of any _trickery_ , you're sorely **—** "

"Sir Jeremiah was also here, and right now he seemed the most loyal to Lelouch. If you could exclude Kallen, that is..."

Villetta turned to face him again in surprise. "What **—**?" She shook her head for a second before leaning over towards him. "Wait a minute **—** earlier you said that _Princess Cornelia_ was here. And even the highest ranked Knight of the Rounds! And Lelouch came here as a representative from Britannia?"

Ohgi nodded. Villetta stared at him wide-eyed before pulling him up to his feet. "Were they still here? Let me talk to them!"

"Sure. Everyone took a break earlier because the prince collapsed," he said before both of them headed back out of the room.

xxx

Everyone looked up as the two entered the room. Jeremiah walked up towards them as he exclaimed aloud. "Villetta!"

"Sir Jeremiah!" she responded back, before turning to see that Princess Cornelia and Bismarck were also present. "Your Highness," she greeted the princess at once.

Villetta turned back towards Jeremiah. "My lord, what's the meaning of this?"

"So, is _she_ the missing piece? I get it now..."

As Lelouch spoke, Cornelia, Bismarck and Toudou stepped aside to reveal himself and Kallen on the couch. Lelouch's eyes widened as he recognized Villetta.

"You! So you're still alive..."

Kallen turned her attention to him. "You know her?" she asked as Lelouch shrugged at her.

"I'll explain later," he said before turning back towards Ohgi. "So was that person the _reason_ that you learned about my Geass?"

Ohgi nodded. "Yes, but I've also heard some mention of it while I'm still in captivity."

"I see," said Lelouch again before glancing towards Bismarck. "Sir Bismarck, prior to this... you've been serving my father loyally, is that true?"

The Knight of One nodded before bowing towards him. "Yes, Your Highness."

"Then I suppose, you should also be aware of the Ragnarok Connection."

The man let out a gasp as Lelouch waved away the concern. "It's all right, prior to this I've explained a bit regarding this to my sister," he sighed as Lelouch regarded Toudou and Ohgi, "...and I suppose, it's better if the rest of the people here heard about this from someone else other than me. The reason why I chose to reclaim my name, as well as the reason why I decided to return to the mainland. "

Bismarck frowned at him. "But Your Highness, I don't think it's wise to **—** "

Lelouch gestured to Kallen as she passed him the royal sceptre. "It's fine. These are the people that I _trusted_ after all..." he said, before turning to face both Toudou and Ohgi. The latter, having hastily turned away in shame. Lelouch tightened his grip on the sceptre. "There's so much at stake here, so much that we could lose. Even now, I'm not even sure if I could garner enough power to achieve what I wanted to do." He glanced towards Toudou again.

"I might as well get straight to the point with them. Since right now is not the time for us to exchange pointless arguments and delaying the more important matters."

Lelouch continued to train his eyes towards the man. "I'm aware of how it may be hard to regain the trust I've obtained in the past through lies and conceit, but I might as well do that now with my own truth and honesty."

Bismarck eyed the sceptre closely as he contemplated Lelouch's reasoning in his mind. The man nodded.

"Very well. If that is your wish."

xxx

"Don't be ridiculous! Enough with spouting more lies to justify your own!"  
  
As expected, at least one of them had reacted extremely after the revelation that Sir Bismarck had let out. And who could that be other than one of the earliest people who had fallen victim to his Geass, and _lived_ to tell the tale?  
  
Lelouch turned towards Toudou to see the man to be deep in thought. The same could be said about Ohgi but perhaps in his case, it was due to the too many things that had been thrown to his face during the past hour. He shrugged nonchalantly.  
  
"If you're worried that I placed some kind of control over Bismarck in order to make him tell that outrageous tale earlier, you can relax." Lelouch cocked his head towards Jeremiah. "If I pulled any funny trick, Sir Jeremiah here would've put a stop to it."  
  
Jeremiah immediately turned around to face him. "Your Highness! You mean you've been aware that I **—**!"  
  
"I told him about it, that you had the Geass Canceller," Kallen spoke up at once, to Jeremiah's surprise. "I saw you before... when you met V.V. in secret."  
  
Jeremiah immediately rushed to kneel beside Lelouch. Cornelia reached out towards her sword almost instinctively...  
  
"Your Highness, I assure you I didn't mean to cause you harm..."  
  
"I know. It wasn't as if I hadn't noticed how much you've strived to protect me."

The older man was about to heave a sigh of relief before another voice broke the tension.  
  
"Who is this V.V.?"  
  
As expected of Ohgi.  
  
xxx  
  
"V.V... is my uncle. My father's _immortal_ twin. And I suppose, like C.C., he's also had the ability to grant the power of Geass to others." Lelouch glanced up towards Bismarck. "Isn't that right, Sir Bismarck?"  
  
Cornelia looked up towards the man as the Knight of One appeared slightly startled. "Have you been aware of this fact all these time, Your Highness?"  
  
She turned to see her brother waving off the comment as if it was nothing. "I figured that you'd be connected to all of this from the very beginning, or else it would be strange to think you'd easily abandon your post just to watch over me. Father wouldn't have sent just anyone for something so important."  
  
Cornelia let out a weak smile before reaching out to grasp her brother's shoulder.

Lelouch glanced back towards Ohgi. "And to add to your earlier question, Ohgi, V.V. was the _true culprit_ behind the previous SAZ massacre. The one who caused my Geass to go out of control, and in the process made my sister into becoming a mindless killing machine through me."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote the whole chapter in parts in the span of like 5 days since the last update. And then left the thing untouched while I agonized about the future of this AU. Might as well post it now. Have to admit that juggling with so many of the canon events and how the changes in this fic will affect those events is really hard, especially with so many people involved. 
> 
> And hey, finally got Viletta back into the story after removing her from the initial rewrite of this fic. There's still a few more stuff to do before we get to branch out of Area 11, and that's another monster to tackle. Thanks to whoever still reading/following this piece.


	19. Cloudy Skies

He had a bad feeling. That's what it was.

When Great Britannia had reached the palace, Lelouch immediately hastened to the platform. Even when it didn't appear that the palace has been attacked in their absence, he could still sense some kind of urgency inside him.

"Check all of the emergency exits! They can't just disappear without a trace!"

"What's wrong? Did something happen here?" Cornelia immediately spoke out as the young knight turned around to greet her.

Lelouch frowned as he stared at the young man closely. That blond hair with three braids at the back of his head. That similar-looking uniform as Suzaku's and that green cape. The young man should be... if he's not wrong, Gino Weinberg, the Knight of Three! Did Bismarck order the guy to stand guard here before they left?

The young Knight stood up even straighter as Bismarck walked towards him. "My lord! I'm sorry for you to have to see this right after your return."

"Cut the idle talk. What happened?" said the man as the young man grew serious.

"There was an intruder. We only just noticed it because of the shift change—"

_An intruder!_

Lelouch felt his heart lurch at the mention of that word. An intruder. Why would an intruder come here? For what reason would anyone—!

_Nunnally!_

Before his mind could fully register the thought properly, his body already reacted as Lelouch ran as fast as he could towards the royal quarters where Nunnally should be staying in. Many thoughts crossed his mind of the horrid things that might've already happened as Lelouch frantically brush them away. No, he shouldn't think about all of those outcomes! But, if V.V. would want to foil his plans, then Nunnally—They must've known that Nunnally would be his weakness—!

Lelouch slammed the door open before shouting out his sister's name, fearing for the worst. But there... inside the room, _three_ people turned around to greet him. With a faint cry, Lelouch collapsed onto the floor as his strength left him.

xxx

The moment she turned around and found Lelouch missing, her heart made a sudden leap.

"Lelouch! Where is he?" she cried out.

Without delay, Cornelia sent out everyone to look for him. It didn't take long for them to find him sitting spread-legged in front of the viceroy's office, with Jeremiah already by his side.

"Lelouch..." she gasped, her mind slowly processing the sight in front of her.

"I'm... fine!" Lelouch barely choked out a reply, but even from her distance, she could tell that her brother had been greatly shaken. She wasn't even sure if Lelouch was trying to reassure his attendant that he was fine, or he himself was trying to convince himself.

Then an old memory resurfaced from the back of her mind and Cornelia hastily turned towards Kallen.

"The two of you ended up returning to Britannia, didn't you? Did something happened to Lelouch back then?"

Kallen blinked at her in surprise before gathering her wits.

"What you mean—?" she started to say before frowning. "Come to think... there was that one time. When Lelouch was starting to get the hang of using those walking aids to move around."

Cornelia bit her lips as Kallen continued to speak. "I was at another room when it happened, but without warning, I heard him _screaming_."

"We found him at the grand staircase, and Lelouch seemed quite shaken by something." Kallen shrugged at her before smiling weakly. "I guess he was taken by surprise when he fell down."

The moment Kallen mentioned the grand staircase she immediately told the girl and Jeremiah to take Lelouch elsewhere immediately.

xxx

Cornelia frowned as she, Bismarck and a few other officers kept reviewing all of the surveillance cameras overlooking the pathways and areas surrounding the detention cells. Yet frustratingly enough, the recorded surveillance videos didn't seem to show them any hint of the intruder nor how they manage to smuggle out not one but TWO  _people_ from the cells. And it didn't look like the videos have been tampered in any way.

_So just how—?_

"Lelouch, wait—!"

She turned around immediately, as the men behind her parted away hastily before Lelouch come barging in. Before she could say anything to chastise her brother (or the others who failed to keep him away) she saw angry tears unashamedly adorned her brother's face as he tried to maintain some sort of control over his own state of emotions. Seeing _that_ , there's no way she could say anything to him.

"What happened?" asked Lelouch, even as his voice shook badly due to the tears.

Cornelia bit her lips. "They're gone. Both Schneizel and Kanon. Don't know how or who helped them get out, yet somehow they did it. There's no sign of them anywhere around the palace."

Lelouch stared at her in alarm before turning towards the surveillance monitors. Cornelia shook her head. 

"It's pointless. We've been perusing them for hours now, there's nothing amiss..."

Her brother paid her no heed as he kept his attention towards the monitors and controls. "No, there should be something..."

Cornelia felt her heart ached again as she reached out to stop her brother, but then suddenly Lelouch tensed up and started paying attention towards a particular screen. She frowned.

"What is it?" she asked as Lelouch pointed out a guard in one of the monitors.

"That guard looked strange. If you didn't know any better, you'd think that the video was paused. But see here—" Lelouch gestured at the very edge of the monitor screen. "—there's some faint movements."

Cornelia started to look closely at the spot that Lelouch pointed out, and sure enough... she saw a faint hint of someone's shadow. If you haven't been paying attention at the area closely, you would've easily missed it. But from the direction of the shadows, the guard should have been able to...

"Have you asked the guards on duty if they saw anyone suspicious?" she asked the young Knight of Three immediately as the young man nodded.

"But they didn't see anyone at all, I've double checked on them to make sure. And they didn't hear anything suspicious either or anything anyone would have tried to make to attract their attention."

"Have they mentioned not being able to remember what they were doing while they're on duty? Like being somewhere without remembering how they got there or finding themselves doing something without them being aware?"

The young Knight gave Lelouch an odd stare as he shook his head. "No, they didn't mention anything like that."

Cornelia turned towards her brother. "Did you think that this had something to do with Geass?"

Lelouch was about to answer her query before he froze. When she tried to follow his line of sight, she saw that Bismarck had a concerned look.

"You _know_ something, don't you?"

Bismarck glanced up towards them. "I heard about _him_ before. I never met him but he was V.V's best operative. The person's expertise was mostly involving infiltration. As well as _assassinations_."

xxx

 _Assassination?_  
  
Lelouch could feel his legs gave away from under him before Cornelia's arms caught his body and kept him steady. Yet right now he could barely focus on anyone or anything around him.  
  
So it was V.V. after all. He came to retrieve Schneizel, most likely as a countermeasure after losing the support of his father in order to execute their Ragnarok plan. In order to fight _him_. But would Schneizel agree to the Ragnarok plan? Or would V.V. use him as another pawn? Knowing that Schneizel was as dangerous to _both_ of them, so instead of having that man as an enemy V.V. took him as an ally.  
  
But to the extent of sending an assassin? Immediately his blood ran cold. V.V. could have easily had Nunnally killed! Without being aware of anything, he could just easily...!  
  
**"Lelouch! Lelouch, listen to me!"**  
  
Lelouch blinked, before noticing a communicator being held in front of him... the audio set to speaker mode. It took a while for him to recognize the voice, but it was Anya's. No, it was his mother trying to reach out to him.  
  
**"All is not lost yet. Charles already sealed all of the other entrances to Akasha aside from Pendragon. And even if he managed to get in, he'd still need to have Charles to get it running. We still have the upper hand!"**  
  
Lelouch heard himself let out the long breath he didn't realize he was holding. He turned to see Cornelia trying to give him the reassurance he couldn't feel.  
  
"Even then, we still didn't have time to lose," He glanced up to see Bismarck giving him a serious look. "Your Highness, you can no longer delay your return to Pendragon."  
  
His eyes widened as Bismarck's words registered into his mind. Lelouch let out a soft sigh.  
  
"Very well. Have the preparations ready. We'll return to Pendragon in the next hour."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally finished this, and to commemorate the event... two characters get their debut in this AU at last. Well, Gino kinda did appear somewhat before but not really officially.


	20. Stagnant

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a while. I might as well update this story.

The bell rang, indicating that the day's lesson has ended. Everyone in the class started to pack up and leave, to do whatever it is they wanted to do for the rest of the day. Either to head straight home, or to the dormitories, or to those who still have their club activities... to their respective clubhouses.

Yet somehow, a certain Rivalz Cardemonde felt reluctant to resume life like normal. He turned to look to his side where several desks had been left unoccupied.

It's been months already. Yet, he never ended up seeing his three friends again after the events of last year. Not directly, at least. Suzaku, as he thought before, had gone back to serving the army full time. And as the president said before—they did end up hearing about Nunnally, who somehow now was appointed as the new viceroy of Area 11.

Still, there was no news about either Lelouch or Kallen. While Kallen might just be taking a long absence from school again, that didn't explain why Lelouch disappeared. If Lelouch was really a royal prince like the president told them before, after finding out that Nunnally was alive... shouldn't there be someone—anyone—who'd start asking about his friend's whereabouts? Why didn't they?

Rivalz buried his face into his hands as he remained seated at his desk.

_"Lelouch... where are you? What happened to you?"_

It's been months now, yet a part of him still couldn't really believe it. That Lelouch was actually a royalty. But that should've explained everything. Why Lelouch had always been good at a lot of things. Like in studies or about horse-riding, or how Lelouch has always been good at ordering people around.

He let out a soft sigh.

And all of the little things that Lelouch used to do had finally made sense to him. How Lelouch didn't seem to care much about the matters of the Britannian courts, how he didn't get daunted whenever they go around and challenge the many nobles or aristocrats that boasted about their wealth and skills over the game of chess. Lelouch had always been such a peculiar guy but Rivalz always thought that he's just a son of some average household. A noble household maybe, but still average.

He thought about the incident that happened at the viceroy's palace a few weeks ago. The paper and the news didn't say much about it, despite how he heard rumours of some big battle or something. He'd hoped that maybe some other things would pop up after that, but things started to really quiet down since then.

The random Black Order activities had started to lessen, and any other terrorist activities had stopped. There was indeed some kind of changes that had started happening around him. Even then, all these things didn't give him what he wanted.

What happened to his friend? Did something terrible really happen to Lelouch? Would he be able to see his friend and partner in crime again?

Sighing, Rivalz got to his feet and left the classroom to return to the dormitories.

It never crossed Rivalz's mind at the time that a few weeks later, that he'd finally get the answer that he's been waiting anxiously for.

xxx

Elsewhere, somewhere in the Euro-Britannia territory...

Sounds of footsteps echoed resoundingly throughout the hallways as a large-built man marched solemnly towards the office of the Archduke of Velaines. After knocking on the door a few times to announce his arrival, Michele Manfredi, Grand Master of the Knights of St. Michael; stepped into the office.

The man took a bow as he greeted the archduke.

"Greetings, My Lord. May I ask for the reason for your summon? The order that I received earlier seemed to be urgent, thus the reason that I came here posthaste. Is there something of the matter?"

Archduke of Velaines, Sir Augusta Henry Highland merely shrugged his answer.

"I have just received a new order from the Emperor. The order was to immediately cease all operations regarding the subjugation of the Europia United as well as reclamation of the Europian territories." The man looked up towards Manfredi as his expressions remained grim. "The order, for the moment remains unofficial until an official stance about it would be made by the homeland. For now, the only other matter that we're authorised to do in this region would be to re-establish contact with the EU as well as conducting negotiation with their council."

Manfredi frowned. "Is there a reason for this change of stance by the homeland?" he asked as Augusta shook his head.

"None. But so far, similar orders as this were reportedly received by other officers and viceroys overseeing the other Areas under the Holy Britannian administration. I suppose this means that something big would be announced soon, and that announcement would change the current situation here in Euro-Britannia, no, the World even."

Augusta gave Manfredi another curious look. "What do you think of this, Michele? Do you think that this would bring about something good... or bad?"

Manfredi just shrugged to himself.

"I'm merely a lowly soldier, My Lord, even if I do have the rank of a general. I am no politician, thus have no experience in handling the matters of the nation. Someone like me wouldn't have been able to understand the reasoning made by our sovereign."

Augusta just started to laugh at his reply. "My dear, Michele... you underestimated yourself too much. But I agree, especially with so little information and a lesser understanding of the matter; one could hardly make an accurate decision on whether or not such orders would be beneficial to one's nation." The man let out a sigh. "Yet, if the constant wars that we've been continuously fighting on this region could come to an end... would that be good for us?"

"Do you think it would come to that?"

Augusta let out another shrug. "I personally do not know. Yet, considering the intel that was gathered as well as the recent situation in Area 11, I don't think that any of these incidents were unconnected."

Manfredi cocked his head towards the man as he sensed another underlining meaning to his words. "So should I proceed with the new order, My Lord?"

"Yes, by all means."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well since we're gonna speed up the time a bit, I might as well write something in between. As well as bring back the attention towards other people in the background. 
> 
> That aside, I might as well start the ball rolling with Euro-Britannia. And the Chinese Fed too come to think, but let's not rush too much. It's a big world we're dabbling into, so we should do this properly.


	21. Advent

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I ended up revising the earlier chapters to see if there's still any loose mistakes that I missed, as well as did a few tweaking on some of the chapters. Also because I needed to readjust a few minor plot details regarding Kirihara since some of the chapters were a bit inconsistent about his part in the plot.

"My lord..."

Lelouch turned around as Jeremiah presented him with the royal coat that he would be wearing during his formal reintroduction to the imperial court, as well as to the rest of the world. He took the offered coat and sat on a nearby seat before examining the details on it. Much to his surprise, aside from some minor details like the embroidery patterns and colour schemes; the outfit bore great similarity with the coat he had when he used to be Zero. Funny how that works.

"You all right?"

Lelouch turned around to see Kallen staring back at him, clad in a red-white Britannian Knight uniform, while also wearing a worried expression. He tried to give her a reassuring smile but ended up just showing her a weak imitation of it.

"Wanna talk about it?" she asked gently. Lelouch shook his head.

Kallen gave him her usual smile. "I told you this before. When you think that you're ready to tell me about it, I'll listen to it. I promised you to keep on being your strongest support. You remember that, right?"

"I know," he said as he put on his coat. Lelouch took her hand and squeezed it gently.

"Thank you, Kallen."

xxx

"President! Can't you find out anything about it? I mean, if not because of Shirley who insisted that we needed to check on the Stadtfelds, we'd never have found out that Kallen hadn't returned home ever since that incident from last year. So including Lelouch, we had **two** peoplewhom we didn't know what happened to them, isn't that enough reason to be worried?"

Milly let out a grimace as Rivalz kept pounding on her the many concerns and frustrations he's been keeping inside of him while she tried to resume her student council duties. "I told you already, there's **nothing** that I could do to find out what happened to them! I've already asked my grandfather to try using his contacts to look for them. But it seemed any information about them were placed under **strict confidentiality**. I can't even have him get me an audience with Nunnally to ask about this!"

She let out a long sigh before taking a seat on her desk. "It was hard enough for me to get the information about Nina above everything else! I can't believe that until now she never told me that she had been scouted by a private research company and was doing special research someplace I didn't know. She should've at least called me to tell that she's safe!"

Rivalz just shrugged, but then his ears perked over some of the things Milly just said.

"Wait a minute! You said that any information on Lelouch was unattainable because of some hush-hush reasons, but wouldn't that mean that their whereabouts were actually known somehow?"

Milly blinked at him. "You know you might be onto something here—" she started saying before her phone suddenly rang. She gave Rivalz an apologetic look before answering the call.

"Yes, Milly here—oh, you want me to gather everyone at the main hall?—I see, I'll get to it right away," she said before ending the call.

Milly turned towards Rivalz immediately. "Rivalz, go run to the media club to ask them to make an urgent announcement to the whole school. Also, tell the other student council members to help out to gather everyone into the main hall,"

Rivalz frowned as the orders seemed so sudden. "Why? Did something happened?"

Milly just shrugged as she hurriedly packed her things before leaving.

"Grandpa said that there is going to be a live broadcast from the mainland. He asked for everyone to not miss it since it sounded like it was supposed to be very important."

Rivalz let out a surprised cry before having himself ushered out from the clubroom in a hurry.

xxx

"It's been almost a month. It doesn't sound as if anything big going to happen any time soon."

Kaguya turned her glance towards the older man as she gave him a patronizing look. Well, as much as someone her age could make towards someone who was a few years older than her.

"Be patient, Ohgi-san. Certainly, Lelouch-sama must be busy making his preparations and everything..."

The man gave the girl a withering look. "Do you _really_ believe all that, Kaguya-sama?"  
  
Kaguya just cocked her head at him.   
  
"Why did you say that, Ohgi-san? Didn't you also decide to go with Lelouch-sama's plan the other day? Shouldn't you try to be more supportive of him?"  
  
Ohgi just blinked at her before shaking his head.  
  
"B-but that time—!" he exclaimed before turning away, "—it's because the things he said were way too big for me to understand. And because I can't think of any other solution that was better than that. Even then..."  
  
A door was slammed from the other side of the room as Toudou walked in. "Even then, considering that _that_ prince had placed you to be the second-in-command of this organization—shouldn't that mean that supporting your leader in his endeavour be the least you could do for him?"

Ohgi glared towards Toudou before frowning again. "I know that! But still, I mean—!"  
  
"Kallen said it last time, right? If Lelouch-sama had used his powers on us, we wouldn't be here arguing about it. Shouldn't that be enough?"  
  
Kaguya smiled weakly. "Everyone had placed their trust in Zero before we knew who he really was. Can't we keep trusting Lelouch-sama even if he stopped being Zero?"  
  
"The late Kirihara-sama had placed his faith on Lelouch when they met before,"

Ohgi glanced back towards Toudou as the man spoke again, "And Lelouch had told me that he revealed his true identity to Kirihara-sama at that time." Toudou raised a hand to stop Ohgi from speaking. "I think I should be able to tell if Kirihara-sama had been mind controlled by anyone at any point of time back then. He wasn't. And Kirihara-sama had been present when Lelouch and his sister was sent to the Kururugi household all those years ago."

"Back then Kirihara-sama had placed his trust on Lelouch before. So until his actions proved otherwise I'll also place my trust on Prince Lelouch."  
  
Ohgi froze for a moment as that last line left him speechless. But that moment was quickly broken as someone else stepped into the room without warning.

"You guys sure are dramatic," C.C. commented snidely before giving Ohgi a knowing look. "Just because you lost contact with Lelouch for a brief period you start to panic for no reason." She let out a chuckle before facing the three of them.

"It's time. We just received a message that Charles has called for a public announcement. You guys might want to stop bickering and listen to what's going to come out."

She started to leave as Kaguya called out to her.

"Aren't you going to watch the broadcast as well?"

C.C. turned her head towards the little girl before shrugging. "I can always watch the recordings later."

xxx

**"People are not created equal. This is what I have always believed as the ultimate truth."**

When the live broadcast started, it appeared to Suzaku that it looked like any other announcement that the emperor has made in the past. He bit his lips. Today's announcement should be about Lelouch since the only way Lelouch would be able to do anything would be to reclaim his title.

_But where is he?_

As Suzaku anxiously watching the broadcast, Emperor Charles continued with his speech.  
  
**"For many years I have sought to find the answer. As well as the solution. In the world where the strong triumph over the weak, where the fools that think they could overturn this reality crumbles in defeat. Would there be merit in remaining weak?"**

He frowned. While the content of the speech was different than the usual speech that the emperor used to make, there were still a few points that have been said before. Also, the emperor used to make these speeches about 'the strong versus the weak' with a certain intention in the past.

 _Why did the emperor start his speech the way he used to? Wasn't this broadcast meant to inform the world about Lelouch's return?_  
  
**"Peace. Unity. A world without war. For years Britannia has sought to unite the world into one. Yet despite the conquest and victories there remain the fools who would resist our cause. In the end, rather than achieving a world without war we raised a world that constantly remain at war."**

He couldn't understand it. Why did the emperor talking about the war?  
  
**"Many years ago, I, Charles zi Britannia had believed in a dream. A dream in which I would attempt to make real no matter what the cost. Alas, a tragedy fell and that dream was vanquished."**

Suzaku blinked. 

"Suzaku?"

He turned around to see Nunnally approaching him with Sayoko. The young princess perked up when she heard the voices from the television screen. "Oh! Has the broadcast started already?" she asked as Suzaku nodded shakily...  
  
**"But it seems that heavens have not abandoned Britannia completely. That hope that disappeared long ago, my lost prince. Today I'm welcoming the return of a royal heir that was once thought to be gone."**

Suzaku glanced back towards the screen as the camera zoomed closer towards the emperor as Charles continued speaking.

**"My eleventh prince. Lelouch vi Britannia!"**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Of all the thing that was the hardest to write... it's Charles official speech. 
> 
> Here ya go... cos I dunno what else left that I could do for this chapter.


End file.
